The Undeserving Love
by Kaden Cegali
Summary: The blood of hundreds of people stain the Weiss mens’ hands, all in the name of justice. Murderers don’t deserve love…at least, that’s what they think. Post Kapital, before Gluhen and OVA, Yaoi, KenxAya
1. Chapter 1

**_The Undeserving Love_**

**_Chapter 1_**

**By Kaden Cegali**

**Summary: This is part 1 of 3. This is Aya and Ken's story. The blood of hundreds of people stain the Weiss boys' hands, all in the name of justice. Murderers don't deserve love…at least, that's what they think.**

**A/N: This is my very first yaoi. I would like to say that I love Aya/Ran and Ken. I just had the urge to write this and I hope you like it. I don't care if you review with flames. I'll just laugh at them. This is after the series, and before the OAV and Glxhen. Read and Review, please. I want to know what you think.**

**Disclaimer: I do not, under any circumstances, own Aya, Ken, Yohji, Omi, or anything else related to Weiss Kreuz. I love the anime, but still…

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Adrenaline. The wonderful feel of blood rushing through his body, giving him strength. He raced down the narrow road with no care for the danger that he was in by doing so. This was what the bike was made for. To tear down clear roads, the speedometer dial teetering between 160mph and 180 mph, the engine purring. It was designed for this kind of activity. It always caused feelings that nothing he'd experienced so far could replicate.

A feeling of excitement came upon him that made him think that this must be what Aya felt when he went on a mission or had rescued his sister from §. His blood pumped and he closed his eyes, relishing in the feel of the wind blowing in his face and the fresh smell of the ocean it brought with it.

Ken raised his head to the clouds and laughed out loud, his joy showing. It had been so long since he had felt this kind of freedom and it was exhilarating. The troubles of the past still haunted him, but with the defeat of Schwartz and the elders of §, the four of them had had an easier time of hiding and keeping themselves concealed from their victims. They still received assignments from Kritiker, albeit strange ones.

Ken had had to get a new bike, having left his old one behind with his old life. He was even teaching soccer again, so it was easier for him to adapt. Soccer had always made him feel euphoric and relaxed, so, even though he couldn't actually play it with people who could give him a challenge, teaching little kids the game he loved so much gave him a sense of stability and security.

The four guys had opened up their own shop, selling flowers like they had before at the Koneko. Ken was surprised that he missed the floral shop every time he thought about it. He realized that he had enjoyed selling and delivering flowers. It had given him something to do when it was slow and the fan girls hadn't yet gotten out of school. But that was gone now. They wouldn't go back. Now, it was up to Sakura and Aya-chan to take care of the shop.

Today the shop was closed, so he had the day off and, since there were no missions in the near future, he had decided to take a ride along the roads in the country, determining that there would be less traffic so he could drive his bike and not worry about getting into any kind of trouble from cops. He pushed the motorcycle to its limit, trees, fences, and houses becoming one big blur out of the corner of his eye.

_I wonder what the other guys are doing today. I know Yohji was going to go out again. Aya'll probably just work in the shop, and Omi is probably going to take this time to go back and visit Ouka's gravesite. I guess me and Yohji are the only ones doing something enjoyable. That's a bit surprising. But then again, Aya probably thinks that working is enjoyable._ He sighed and opened his eyes briefly before closing them again. _I just don't understand that guy. He's so…serious that it's just sickening. Makes me hurt just looking at him._

Their redheaded leader had remained just as stoic as ever, a bit of a disappointment to their more cheerful members. Having to leave Aya-chan behind, thinking that he was dead, seemed to have made him even more depressingly rude than before. But at least he didn't let it get in the way of their missions. If anything, he had become more efficient than ever. His sword skills had improved greatly and now he was even more of a force to be reckoned with.

_He's one of the few guys that I know who are worth admiring. Too bad he's so damned anti-social; or a bloody marble statue. Serious son-of-a-bitch.. He even intimidates Yohji, and that's a hell of a thing to be able to accomplish._

Thinking of the blond playboy made Ken smile briefly. Though at times he could be overwhelmingly annoying, he had his good points. He had helped both Ken and Aya adapt easier to life without their normal routines at first, using his own way of distracting them until it became almost a normal occurrence. Aya and him couldn't actually thank him, considering they would have to admit to Yohji that he had done something significantly great, which would only boost the blonde's ego to an unbearable level. Ken shuddered at that thought. Yohji had a bad enough ego problem without them adding to it.

Since the defeat of §, the older man had adapted pretty well to being uprooted from his normal life. He had gone back to his normal, daily routine of being the playboy that all the customers seemed to love. But then again, he hadn't seemed to be that connected to the world around him before they left. All that remained in that area had been bad memories from his days as a P.I., days that he'd probably rather forget. Too bad the rest of them couldn't be like that.

_Especially Aya and Omi. They've had it the worst of us because every huge mission we've had so far has had something to do with them, whether it was because of Aya-chan, or the Takatori's. I feel sorry for them._

Omi had been reasonably cheerful. Ouka and Shuichi's death had shook him to the core, but he had recovered as best as possible. Somehow, he had remained optimistic, as well as keeping the others from nearly killing Yohji (which had happened more than once since they'd started again. The blonde just couldn't seem to get that Aya did not like getting his hair teased/fluffed/cut/dyed/burned/tweaked/have random things put in it, and that Ken hated his things messed with, i.e. his soccer equipment and his weapons. He also learned pretty quickly that Ken really hated his clothing to be tampered with. Bright pink dye was not a good color for any of the guys, much less the one who wasn't very fond of the color). It was only on days like this that Omi actually went to visit Ouka's grave, as well as Suiichi's.

All of them had gotten through the initial change fairly well, but none of them were entirely recovered. But they were willing to keep it up if it kept their acquaintances from being targeted, like they had so many times before.

_We're a family now, if you can call people who try to kill each other every other hour a family. But at least Aya stopped aiming for Yohji with his katana and the kitchen knives. Omi probably had a hand in that as well._ He sighed, a smile playing on his lips. Even he could see the humor in messing with Aya's head once in a while. But unlike Yohji, he knew when to stop. _It's not as bad as I thought. It's not as depressing as before._

His smile disappeared as he thought of the missions that had appeared when they had first went into hiding again. The guys had been increasingly sent on solo or doubles missions. Rarely was there a time when all four of them were assigned to go on a mission together, but none of them seemed to mind. Kritiker seemed to think that that was best, so, for the time being, they were going to go along with it. Life had been hectic enough without the four of them making it worse by arguing with their bosses over whether they could carry out their assignments as a group.

He opened his eyes to see that the road took a sharp curve, and Ken leaned on his bike to make the vehicle turn to accommodate the curve. He opened his eyes fully as he turned the corner. His eyes widened when he saw the truck coming. A huge 18-wheeler barreled towards him, dwarfing his bike from maybe twenty feet away. Ken swerved to miss the truck, hitting the railing of the curve and flying off his motorcycle. He flew through the air, looking back briefly to see the truck slam on its brakes and skid to a stop.

He hit the ground hard, knocking the breath out him. He gasped and rolled down the hill, hitting a sharp rock with his leg. A hiss escaped him, and he continued to roll. Pain shot through his temple and he blacked out briefly. He was panting heavily, unable to catch the air he had lost so easily. When he opened his eyes, he had slowed to a stop and what he could assume was the driver was standing over him, a panicked expression on his face.

"Son, are you okay? I didn't see you, kid! What were you doing racing down here so fast? Don't you know that's dangerous! That's not the point. You got a name, boy?" he asked frantically, shaking his shoulders lightly, causing the young man even more pain.

Ken opened his mouth to say something, but only his first name came out. He passed out soon after. Darkness consumed him as his eyes closed. Before unconsciousness completely took over, however, he thought, _I am so screwed._


	2. Chapter 2

**_The Undeserving Love_**

**_Chapter 2_**

**By Kaden Cegali**

**Disclaimer: I do not, under any circumstances, own Aya, Ken, Yohji, Omi, or anything else related to Weiss Kreuz…

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Beeping noises permeated his mind and he cracked an eye open to find out what the infernal noise was. That's when the pain hit him. He winced as it coursed through him. He shut his eyes immediately, trying his best to block out the pain of the bright light and his wounds.

"I wouldn't move if I were you, young man. It may cause you more pain. We've given you the max amount of pain control that the doctor prescribed for your condition earlier, but it may be fading now." a voice stated calmly near him.

Ken almost jumped out of his skin, which cause him even more pain than before. He groaned and made himself relax onto the bed. He cautiously opened an eye and looked towards where the voice had come from. A middle-aged woman sat nest to his bed, dressed in a nurse's outfit and looking at him with partial concern.

_Wait…Nurse's outfit! Is this Yotan's idea of a joke! I'm going to kill that man, bring him back to life, torture him, then kill him again! He's got one sick sense of humor. And when I'm in all this pain, too…wait…why am I in pain? What happened?_

"Um, miss. Excuse me, but…why are you in my room?"

The nurse raised an eyebrow at him and a small smile graced her lips. In her eyes, Ken saw amusement and a bit of pity and understanding. "Young man, you are not in your room. You're in a hospital bed with multiple bruised ribs and a very bruised body. Though, in a way, it is your fault for driving so recklessly, I must say."

Ken glared at her, but closed his eyes almost immediately. He relaxed and mentally went through what happened.

_I remember the accident now. Then the fall. Then that rock. That must be why my leg hurts like all hells. And my head is killing me. I must have done something to it. Or maybe that driver just banged my head against the ground when he was trying to get me to answer. Speaking of him-_

"Excuse me, nurse? Um, what happened to the driver?"

The nurse looked back at him and the smile that Ken had already learned to hate appeared once more. "He called the ambulance and then signed a report for the police. He was released and the charges were dropped. Be glad of that or you would have been spending quite a bit of money and time in jail, young man."

His left eye twitched when she called him that in such a motherly tone. _I never even liked my mother. I sure as hell don't want to hear it from this weird lady. Especially one who doesn't even know me._

"Young man?"

"My name is Hidaka Ken, Miss. Please address me as such," he said curtly, his short temper fraying.

The nurse blinked in surprise, then her eyes hardened. But she didn't say anything to his comment. "_Young man."_ she repeated, causing Ken's eye to twitch again. "You friends are here to see you."

Ken looked at the door and saw the three of them standing there. He waved good-naturedly at them, then winced and made himself lie back down. The nurse motioned for the three guys to come in, then left. Ken couldn't help but smile as he heard the nurse muttering something along the lines of "annoying little brat know-it-alls" and "handsome, but obviously good-for-nothing friends."

"What's so funny, Ken-kun?" Omi asked, concern showing on the younger man's face.

Ken gingerly sat up and turned his smile to them, but it disappeared as soon as he caught the look on Aya's face. It was positively thunderous…well, thunderous for Aya, which meant that Ken was on the receiving end of a very effective, very serious death glare.

"Nothing at all, Omi. Um, hi guys. How's it going?"

"What happened to you, Ken? They told us you ran off the road." This was from Omi again.

Ken smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head. He winced and lowered his arm. "Well, that's pretty much what happened. I was driving and I ran off the road trying to avoid hitting this huge truck."

"So you managed to cause more trouble for us by getting into a wreck? How fast were you going, exactly, Kenken? Or was there a nice looking girl that caught your attention?" Yohji asked slyly, the worry leaving his face as he took in Ken's condition and manner.

"Nothing like that at all, Yotan. And maybe around 170." he mumbled the latter part almost inaudibly.

Yohji, having heard him, smiled and shook his head. Omi didn't, however, and asked him to repeat himself. Ken groaned and lowered his head, his hair falling over his face.

"170 or so, Omi." he repeated louder. He was rewarded by Omi's gasp and a chuckle from the tall blonde.

Aya didn't say a thing. He just turned and walked out of the room. Ken sighed heavily. "He's really pissed at me, isn't he?"

Omi shook his head. "Actually, Aya's been pretty worried about you, Ken-kun. He actually almost ran to where the site of the accident was when we saw it on the news. After a while, though, he just got real quiet. And he glared a lot."

"And chibi here means a lot of glaring. Even I was intimidated enough not to make any cracks about you being an idiot by driving so fast. When we found out what hospital you were in, he said 'Let's go' and walked to his car. And can you believe that he just took off without us? Left me and chibi to get a taxi. Damn bastard."

"Don't be mean, Yohji-kun. That just shows how much he worries about us all. That's what makes Aya such a great leader."

Yohji snorted. "Chibi, I'd hate to break it to you, but I think you're being delusional."

"I have to agree with Yotan on this one, Omi. Aya's just concerned about the mission and how my condition will compromise future ones. He always has been. That's all there is to it," Ken added, nodding meaningfully to the door.

"But-" Omi began.

He was interrupted by the door opening. Three pairs of eyes turned to see Aya in the doorway. He didn't seem to have stopped glaring since he had left. In fact, to Ken, his glare seemed to gotten worse since he had come back.

"Uh, Aya-kun…" Omi began, but trailed off when the full force of their leader's lethal glare focused directly on him.

"The doctor says that you can leave the hospital, Ken. You aren't in critical condition, so we can take over your care from here. You will be transferred back to the shop." Aya stated matter-of-factly.

Ken thought about it, then sighed in relief and fell back on the bed, inadvertently causing pain to shoot up his sides and back. He clenched his teeth and resisted the urge to groan or cry out. He wouldn't show anymore of a weakness in front of them than was necessary. He wouldn't give Yohji a reason to make fun of him. The jokes about the accident would last long enough for his liking, anyways.

"Then let's get me the hell out of here, shall we? I don't want to have to have another 'conversation' with that nurse. For some reason, she just doesn't like me very much. Seems to think I'm a brat. When can you guys sign me out and drag me out of here?" he asked jokingly.

Aya just looked at him, then turned and walked out again. Ken smiled wryly at Omi, who was looking at the doorway that the redhead had disappeared from.

"Worried, huh, Omi? That looked more like anger to me. Wouldn't you say, Yotan?"

Yohji nodded and laughed while the younger member blushed and looked at the ground. Ken's laughter joined Yohji's and soon Omi's did as well. Soon, the nurses came in, ushered the two visitors out, and prepared their very odd patient to leave the hospital under the watchful eye of a rather intimidating redhead man who seemed intent on boring holes into the young man's forehead.

The nurses would never know that, though the young brunette acted cheerful and made them laugh with his good humor and various jokes, he was most certainly terrified of the redhead and dreaded the time when he would be at home to be subject to the other assassin's rage. Aya pissed was definitely something that Ken could do without. He just had to hope that his leader didn't do anything to trigger his own explosive temperament. That would definitely not be a good thing.

Ken sighed and took a deep breath, resigning himself to what was to come.

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Ken yelped in pain for the hundredth time as he was once again dropped unceremoniously and unbidden on a hard surface. First going down the stairs, then when they reached the stairs, then when Yohji had obviously thought it would be funny if he practically threw Ken in the back seat, then again when getting out of the car, Omi not having opened the door wide enough to allow his injured friend room to get out of the car safely. Ken sighed. Then it happened again when they walked through the door, Yohji letting the door hit Ken's head as it slammed shut, then finally when they had started taking him upstairs, when Omi's grip had loosened a bit too much and he had dropped the older man, jarring the bruises and his ribs in the process.

"I'm so sorry, Ken-kun! I didn't mean to drop you. Are you ok?" Omi asked over Yohji's loud laughing.

Ken glared at Yohji through his pain before turning his head to Omi, though it hurt him to do even that. And he'd thought he had just had to worry about Aya's anger. "It's ok, Omi. It wasn't your fault." _I hope._ he added silently.

Yohji seemed to find that funny as hell and promptly burst into another fit of laughter, earning another glare from Ken. It wasn't until Aya found them in the same situation with Yohji basically on the floor laughing his ass off, Ken yelling at him to shut the hell up, and Omi trying desperately to get them to calm down so they could get Ken to his room that he decided to finally speak up.

"Yohji, stop messing around and help Omi. Ken, stop yelling at Yohji or he'll never be quiet, unless you want to stay on the stairs for the next hour and a half," he said calmly, somehow getting his words to travel to the three men.

All of them immediately jumped to attention at the redhead's words. Yohji managed to _barely_ contain his laughter that threatened to come back at a moment's notice and help Omi, who had grabbed his side of Ken's cot once more. Ken shut his mouth and clenched his teeth, stopping himself from turning his anger on Aya. Taking calm breaths, he calmed his anger and just waited for them to get to his room.

He heaved a huge sigh of relief when they finally, carefully, set him on his bed. His soft, bouncy bed that would never do him any wrong. When he had gotten over his latest pain, he forced an eye open and looked around to see Omi and Yohji standing beside his bed, blocking his view of the door, where he was positive that Aya stood. He could feel the glare from his bed. It was rather disturbing, to say in the least.

"I really am sorry, Ken-kun. For all those times that I dropped or hit you with something. I didn't mean to." the younger man apologized.

"Yeah, me, too, Kenken. I," He snickered. "really didn't mean to," He snickered again. "hit you with the door or drop you, either." Yohji managed before falling into laughter once more.

"You're forgiven, Omi. Yohji, on the other hand, I can't help but think that a lot of what you did to me was more for your own enjoyment and that you don't even mean what you just said. Damn sleazy pervert. Get out of here before I get up and slice you up."

This only caused the blonde to laugh even harder, but he didn't move a muscle. Ken rolled his eyes and turned his attention to Omi, pointedly ignoring the laughing man.

"So what did the good doctor say about me getting back into shape? By any chance would he have said anything about it being in two or three days?" he asked hopefully, his eyes pleading the youth.

Omi shrugged and gave him a "how-the-hell-should-I-know" look. "I didn't talk to the doctor, Ken-kun. Aya did. The doctor had disappeared before I could ask him anything about your condition. The nurse said something about the bathroom and the doctor seeming very pale."

_I would bet my life that Aya had something to do with the doctor's sudden disappearance. Wonder what he said to the guy. Had to have been pretty horrible. Then again, this is Aya I'm talking about here. The guy probably just glared at him and the doctor was gone. Ah well. That just leaves me one option._

"So Aya, what did the odd doctor say about me? Other than I'm not going to die?"

Omi looked at him quizzically for an instant before he turned and looked back seeing Aya by the door, exactly where Ken had predicted he was. The younger blonde looked back at Ken, wondering how he could have known that he was there. Ken wasn't about to tell him that he'd felt the force of Aya's glare, which was still directed at him.

Their leader just looked at him, and Ken had the distinct feeling that he now had a bulls-eye painted on his forehead. Turning away from them, the redhead leaned against the doorway casually. For a while, he didn't speak, making Ken think that he just planned on ignoring him. Then he spoke.

"One of us needs to tend to you while you heal, basically being a nurse. You aren't allowed to get up or move for at least a week. That means seven days, Ken."

Ken groaned out loud, some of his worst fears realized. If he couldn't do anything for a week, that meant he couldn't get his usual exercise to get rid of his excess energy, which meant that he was going to be very antsy for three days if the whoever decided to take care of him was lucky. He didn't think they'd be very lucky. And an antsy Ken was a really short-fused Ken, which meant really bad things for his "nurse."

_Though the thought of making a nurse out of one of these guys sounds kinda fun. They'll be getting their exercise just getting me anything I want from the kitchen and downstairs._

"Wait. You mean I can't do any missions, either? Please tell me you aren't serious Aya. I need that outlet. Can't I just, you know, take a day off? I'll be fine. It's just a few bruises. They aren't that bad." he tried to persuade the redhead, already panicking at the thought of sitting in his room for a week with nothing to do.

Aya just shook his head. "Whether it is or isn't, I'm not taking the chance of you freezing for an instant during the mission and costing us the target. You will abide by the doctors orders willingly, or I will tie you down myself to make sure you do."

His head sank back on the bed as Aya's words sank in. He really didn't want to have to stay in his room for a week, but he really, really didn't want Aya to tie him down. That would make things worse. At least he was free to walk around when no one was in his room.

Omi finally spoke up. "So who's going to take care of Ken-kun?"

Yohji immediately raised his hands and backed slowly towards the door. "No way am I baby-sitting Kenken. He's bad enough when he's healthy. No telling what he'll do when he's hurt."

Ken growled and started to stand to show just what he'd do when hurt, but Omi placed his hand on the brunette's shoulder and pushed down, shaking his head. The older man looked at Omi, then settled down.

"He does have a point, though, Ken-kun. You do seem to be in a rather angry mood since you found out about your forced confinement," Omi interjected. Yohji bobbed his head in agreement.

"Thanks for taking his side, Omi." Ken said grumpily.

"So how do we figure out who takes care of him. I'd be willing to for a while, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to handle Ken-kun's temper after it gets worse. One of you will have to take over after that."

"Chibi, that's what we don't want. None of us really want to have to deal with an angry, short-tempered Ken who we will be handing things for him to throw at us," Yohji pointed out, noticeably backing away from Ken and moving behind the younger blonde in case possible projectiles came his way, though Ken had nothing to throw at the moment.

Omi looked at Yohji and shook his head. "That's not nice, Yohji-kun. Ken-kun doesn't mean to be like that."

"Yeah, chibi. I wanna hear you say that after a dish has flown your way more than once," Yohji said, ducking behind the younger man as a pen that Ken had found near his bed flew at him.

The object sailed past them both and headed straight for Aya, who hadn't said a word in the debate. Three pairs of eyes widened as they realized where the pen was headed, yet none of them could move, one for obvious reasons, the others out of shock.

Aya didn't even blink as he turned swiftly and easily caught the pen as it was about to strike its unintended target. He looked at it, then at Ken, then at Yohji and Omi, then back at Ken. Shaking his head, he let the pen drop to the floor.

"I'll take care of Ken," the redhead said, not a hint of anger in his voice as he addressed them all. He didn't even bother to acknowledge that he had almost gotten hit by a small pen. "That way I can make sure he doesn't do anything out of the doctor's orders. Yohji, you'll be taking over my shifts during the day. I have a feeling that Ken will have to be watched twenty-four/seven. He seems as if he'll be unable to obey orders given to him that he doesn't think are worth it. Omi, you will help Yohji and take Ken's place in making deliveries if needed."

Yohji nodded dumbly and walked out the door, Omi soon following. Both wore clueless expressions, thinking the same thing. _Why would Aya volunteer?_

Ken, on the other hand, bit back another groan even as he tried to figure out how in the hell Aya had known to turn around at that point to catch the pen. He knew that what Aya had said was true, but it also disrupted his plans to be able to stand and walk around when no one was around. If Aya was there all the time, he was as good as dead.

When both men were gone, the slightly older man turned his attention back to Ken. His eyes were hard, spelling trouble for Ken.

"I will make sure that you get better. I don't want to have to pick up your slack in our missions. Your injuries are a threat to our assignments. Therefore, I will take care of that threat," he said deadly calm, causing Ken to gulp and blink.

_I knew Yohji was right about that. Damn, but this next week is going to be hell. With absolutely no way to get out. Dammit all._


	3. Chapter 3

_**The Undeserving Love**_

**By Kaden Cegali**

**Disclaimer: ****I do not, under any circumstances, own Aya, Ken, Yohji, Omi, or anything else related to Weiss Kreuz…

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Day One _(The Nightmare Begins)_

Aya walked into the room, nudging the door open with his foot. In his hands, he held a tray that seemed a bit too off balance for the redhead. He looked around the room, his eyes immediately moving in on the bed where his patient was supposed to be. "Supposed to" being the operative words. The bed was empty.

_Where is he? I was just gone for a few minutes. Besides, I told him to stay in bed._

"Ken. Where are you?" he called out, closing his eyes. "I told you not to leave the bed and obey the doctor's orders."

A shuffling sound and a soft moan caught his attention. He turned his head, still holding the tray in his arms. Ken was sitting on the floor in a corner, panting and holding his side, his head rolled back against the wall. Aya sighed again, seeing this. He put the tray on the ground and walked over to the brunette. Kneeling down, he glared at the younger man as Ken became aware of his presence and looked at him. Aqua eyes were filled with pain, causing the redhead to close his eyes once more.

"Hey, Aya…How's…it goin'?" Ken said, pausing after every few words as pain shot through him.

"Hn. Fool. One day back from the hospital and you've already tried getting up. Do you want to recover? Or should I take this as a sign and chain you to the bed?"

Ken tried to laugh, but instead ended up groaning. When the pain subsided, he smiled painfully at his leader. "Nah, I'm fine with not being chained to that uncomfortable bed. It's all lumpy and stuff. And you know, I think there's a pea under that mattress."

"Ken. Shut up," Aya said coldly, his violet eyes flashing. When the younger man paused in his rambling, he continued. "How do I know that you won't get up again until you're supposed to?"

"Believe me, Aya. I won't get up anymore. After having that kind of pain just hit me, I don't want a repeat. I tried to get up and walk around. Stretch my legs, you know? Well, as soon as I stood up, the pain just hit me. I stumbled and collapsed here. I don't want to do that again…at least, not until this just becomes a dull ache."

Shaking his head, Aya moved to his side and wrapped his arm around the man's waist. "Put your arm around my neck. Let's get you back to the bed."

Ken nodded and draped his arm around his shoulders. Together, they stood and walked to the empty bed, Ken leaning heavily on Aya as the older man struggled to walk the five meters to the bed. When they reached it, he rolled his shoulders and slightly pushed the brunette off of him. Ken gingerly sat down, then lay down on the bed, easing himself against his pillow.

Aya straightened and walked back over to the tray, picking it up and setting it on Ken's legs. "Eat." was all he said.

Ken nodded and began eating. His nose scrunched up at the unfamiliar taste of the soup. He looked at Aya with questioning eyes.

"Um, Aya? What kind of soup is this?"

"Yohji said it was cream of mushroom. Why?" the redhead asked.

Aqua eyes widened to the size of saucers as Ken spit out all the soup he'd eaten so far. When he had finished coughing it all up, Aya having hit his back to help him, he sat back, his head down.

"What's the matter, Ken?" he asked, his voice slightly concerned.

The younger man took deep breaths before answering. "Yo…you said Yohji made this? As in, he prepared it? And not in front of you?" he asked, his voice low as he glanced up at the redhead.

Not immediately getting what his associate was saying, Aya nodded, which resulted in another hacking fit. When he stopped again, Aya quirked an eyebrow at him.

"What is going on, Ken? What are you so panicked about?"

A nervous giggle escaped Ken's mouth before he could stop himself. _He doesn't get it. He doesn't get that Yohji is a sick bastard and I probably just swallowed something that isn't meant to be swallowed. Sick bastard. I'm going to kill Yohji when I can walk again._

"I think you should probably take this away now, Aya. I don't think it's good."

Aya looked at him curiously, then reached over and used the spoon to take a sip of the soup that the brunette was so adamant about not eating. Ken made a small noise of protest and surprise, but the redhead had already eaten it. His eyes closed in sympathy as he saw Aya's nose scrunch up in disgust.

"Told you not to eat it, Aya. It's not re-"

"Why did that idiot blonde put horseradish sauce in this soup? Why do we even have that stuff in there?" Aya said, not even listening to the ex-soccer player.

Ken opened his eyes and blinked at what the redhead had said so casually. _Horseradish sauce? But…_ He took the spoon from him and took a sip of his own soup, moving it around slightly as he tried to determine if it really was what Aya had said it was. He blinked again and tilted his head to the side.

"It is horseradish sauce. Huh…guess I won't have to kill the idiot after all," he mused out loud to himself.

Aya looked at him with confusion, not understanding. "Of course it is. What did you think it was?"

A blush rose to Ken's cheeks and he turned around, facing the wall in a vain attempt to escape the redhead's question. "Nothing," he mumbled. _You really don't want to know. I think I need to get my head out of the gutter. Yohji's rubbing off on me without even trying. Damn him._

The older man just quirked an eyebrow at him. "Hn. Baka. Just eat it. I don't care how nasty it tastes," he added when the brunette opened his mouth to protest.

"But I hate horseradish sauce!" Ken complained, looking down at the bowl of soup like it was going to come to life and attack him.

Aya saw the looks the bowl was receiving, but he didn't ask. It probably would disturb him to hear what the brunette was thinking about to give such a look to an inanimate object. "Eat it or starve. You won't get anything else until you finish it." he stated firmly.

Ken sighed and took to glaring at the bowl of white, sticky soup. "This is so wrong, Aya. You know that right? I'm the one who's injured so I should be getting some kind of special treatment. I mean, wouldn't you want to be treated kindly by someone who is a total anti-social psycho killer? I know I would. Can I have ice cream instead?"

The redhead shook his head and stood. "I am going to go down and have a chat with Yohji and when I come back, I want that soup gone. And Ken," he said, waiting until the younger man had looked in his direction. "I will know whether you eat it or dump it. And if you dump it, I'll have Yohji make some more, just for you."

With that, not waiting for a response from the brunette, Aya walked out, closing the door behind him. Ken turned his glare to the door, then back at the soup. In his mind, he was strangling Yohji for making itand Aya for forcing him to eat this stuff.

"Damn Yohji for making this shit, and damn Aya for making me eat it. This is so lame. I am supposed to be pampered, not tortured! Argh!" He stabbed his spoon in the disgusting white substance, moving it around to make little whirlpools in the soup.

Resigning himself to his fate, he closed his eyes and pinched his nose. "I don't want to take the chance that what Aya said was right and he would know. Might as well get it all over with as fast as possible. Get it in one gulp. Ugh, this is going to make me sick." He shook his head and brought the bowl to his lips. Tilting it, he swallowed as much of the soup as he could, resisting the urge to just throw it all back up. He continued to drink it until he finished, then threw the now empty bowl on the tray carelessly, rubbing his hand over his mouth to get what was left of that taste out of his mouth.

"Eww, that stuff tastes like garbage. Disgusting. From now on, I only get ramen. Fuck this homemade stuff. I'll live with take-out and freeze-dried food any day."

He wiped his mouth some more, his gagging reflex acting up, but he managed to keep the soup down, thankfully. He hated the taste of vomit. Wasn't pleasant at all. Which was why he was never going to go out and drink with Yohji ever again. He shuddered at the memory. He hadn't thought it possible to get as wasted as he had. He'd never look at a mini refrigerator the same way again.

When Aya returned to the injured man's room, it was to a very odd site. The bowl of soup was empty and on the tray, which was halfway across the room in a corner. The said injured man was still in the bed, but just a tad shade greener than before. His eyes were glaring at the room that contained Ken's small mini refrigerator and other kitchen utensils. The brunette's apartment was a disaster, but he somehow still kept that room fairly livable. Probably because it contained the only thing that kept him from having to go downstairs in the middle of the night to get some snack that he had just made up.

Sighing, Aya walked over to the bed and just stood there, waiting for the brunette to notice him. It took a few minutes. When he finally did acknowledge him, the redhead was already debating hitting the younger man with a random object on the floor. He had an odd feeling that it would have made him feel a lot better than he did now.

"What's up, Aya?" The ex-soccer player asked, breaking Aya out of his self-induced dream world. He shook his head once to clear his thoughts and try to figure out what he had come back in here for.

_Ah, that's right._ "I came to see if you ate the soup," a snort came from his companion on the bed, but he ignored it. "and also to tell you that Yohji won't be making anymore of your food." _None of our food, for that matter._ He added silently.

The brunette seemed highly pleased and relieved to hear that. Aya still couldn't quite figure out what his comrade had thought the soup had been at first, but he wasn't about to ask again. Something in him told him that he really didn't want to know. Sometimes the younger assassin disturbed him with how the way his mind worked. It just wasn't…natural to think the way he did.

"So what's to eat for dinner, huh? How about a burger? I could really use a burger after that disgusting crap you called a meal. And I think I need some medicine. That food kinda unsettled my stomach a bit."

Aya sighed and shook his head. "Stop acting like a child. You can live out a stomach ache, I'm sure. And if you really want it, I'll send Omi out for some burgers. Do you want a specific kind?"

Ken pouted briefly at being called a child, but didn't comment on it. "Any kind will do. I just need to get this taste out of my mouth."

A nod was his only reply before the redhead walked out once more, this time to seek out the small blonde genki. Ken leaned back and smiled.

_Maybe this won't be as bad as I thought.

* * *

_

Aya found Omi in the basement on the computer, as he had suspected. He cleared his throat once to get the boy's attention, more to just not jar the boy than to actually get his attention. He turned around and looked at Aya with large blue eyes.

"What is it, Aya-kun? Is Ken-kun okay?"

Aya nodded, still thinking about his issues with the brunette so far, but he didn't make a comment about it. "I'm sorry to bother you, Omi, but I need a favor to ask. It's for Ken. I would go, but I have a feeling that I should stay before he hurts either himself or Kudoh."

Omi tilted his head to the side in confusion, but he nodded anyways. "Go on. What do you need, Aya-kun?"

"I need you to go to the store and buy Ken some burgers. He doesn't care which kind, so any kind will do. Again, I'm sorry to ask this of you. I'm afraid that if I sent Yohji, I wouldn't get burgers, but something else. And I don't think Ken will take anything that Yohji's touched anymore," he explained.

The younger assassin smiled sympathetically and nodded in understanding. He had already been told about Yohji's antics and he was sure that Aya was right about Ken's aversion to anything the playboy touched.

"That's fine, Aya-kun. I don't mind. Besides, it's for a good cause, right?"

"Are you sure? It's not too much trouble?" Aya asked, uncertain.

Omi laughed and shook his head. "It's fine. I wouldn't do it if it wasn't, Aya. Just let me shut this down and get a jacket, okay?"

Still unsure, but unwilling to ask Yohji or leave Ken to his own devices for more than a few minutes, the redhead nodded and turned to leave. Before he could clear the doorway, however, Omi's voice stopped him.

"Is he going to be back to normal soon, Aya-kun?" The voice was unsure, small.

Aya turned to the young blonde and managed a slight nod. "He's doing better than I think even the doctor thought. He'll be back to normal as soon as next week, if not a little longer. Don't worry, Omi. Ken's not going to let this little injury slow him down." He knew the younger boy only needed some reassurance, nothing more.

Omi nodded and turned back to the computer, closing what programs he had open. Aya left without another word, walking back to the stairs and Ken's apartment. Yohji's voice stopped him.

"Hey, Aya. Got a minute?"

The redhead stopped and turned around to face the blonde, a glare on his face. Yohji didn't seem to notice, but just looked at him. Aya didn't say anything, but nodded to tell him that he was listening.

"What are we going to do when the missions come around? I doubt Persia will bother to give us a break. And we can't leave Kenken by himself, as I'm sure you've already seen. He's a man, old enough to take care of himself, but you know how he is after just one day and still in pain. He doesn't like sitting still and he definitely won't if someone's not here to make him. The only reason he hasn't hurt himself more than he has is because you've been there. He might even try to follow us. He becomes irrational when he can't do anything."

Aya shook his head before Yohji had even finished. When the blonde stopped, he spoke. "Ken may be irrational, but he's not stupid. He won't move from his bed until he knows its possible. He's already tried once, and he's suffered for that already. Besides, Persia knows about Ken's condition, so most likely, he won't send us on group missions. At most, he'll just send us in pairs, which will leave us with one person still here to watch him."

Yohji still looked doubtful, but he nodded. "Kenken isn't stupid. You were right about that."

Aya nodded once more and turned to leave. Yohji didn't stop him. He reached the stairs and mounted them, heading to Ken's room. All he had to do now was just wait for Omi to come back and the brunette wouldn't complain anymore for the rest of the day. He hoped.

* * *

Aya pulled himself onto his bed, tired from going up and down the stairs. Ken had been calmer after Omi had come with the food, but he was still active, which proved rather hard to deal with for the redhead. It was twelve o'clock and he had just gotten the brunette calm enough to try to get some sleep. He wasn't going to watch him during the night, convinced that he wouldn't do anything, especially with the pain still sticking with him.

He lay down in bed, too tired to undress and just stared at the ceiling. It wasn't as bad as he'd thought. And Ken seemed to be healing already. Maybe he'd be fine by the end of this week. He could only hope.


	4. Chapter 4

**_The Undeserving Love_**

**_Chapter 4_**

**By Kaden Cegali**

**A/n: Ok, so this is the first installment since my promise, and I'm really trying to keep it. Next time, I'll try to update Never What It Seems, but for now, it's this one. I was originally going to have all of Ken's time in confinement in one chapter, but since the first one was so long, I decided to just have each day seperate. Enjoy. Again, READ AND REVIEW PLEASE! Thank you in advance.**

**Disclaimer: I do not, under any circumstances, own Aya, Ken, Yohji, Omi, or anything else related to Weiss Kreuz. I love the anime, but still…

* * *

**

Day Two _(The Visit)_

A loud crash awoke Aya abruptly from his deep sleep. He shot out of bed and looked around, trying to blink the sleep out of his eyes. When nothing immediately struck him as odd, he walked around for a few seconds before a groan caught his attention. A groan that came from the injured man's room.

_Oh hell. What happened…?_

He raced out of his room, not bothering to change out of his crumpled and sleep-worn clothing, and flew through Ken's bedroom door, standing in the doorway, panting.

"Ken! Are you okay? What happened?" he managed to gasp out.

The brunette jumped at the loud bang of his door being opened and blinked at the sight of a rumpled Aya standing there, for all the world looking as if he had just woken up and ran here. Which, unknown to the younger man, he had.

"Um…is something wrong, Aya? Did you fall out of bed this morning?" he asked, concerned and completely ignoring Aya's questions, having barely heard them, anyways.

Aya actually looked at the brunette and didn't notice anything was wrong. The only thing different was the concerned look on his face. He was still in his bed. He wasn't holding his ribs in pain. There wasn't an intruder. Yohji wasn't there. So why the crash and groan?

"I came here when I heard a crash, then a groan from you. What happened, Ken?"

Ken opened his mouth to ask what he was talking about, then blushed immediately, red tinting his face up to his roots. "Sorry for scaring you, Aya. It was nothing. The alarm went off, and since I couldn't reach it, I threw the closest thing that was near me, which just happened to be the tray you brought the burgers on yesterday. It hit the clock, then both of them traveled and crashed into the wall. The tray's fine, though," he added, as if that would somehow lessen his anger.

Aya just raised an eyebrow at the brunette as he explained. "And the clock?"

Ken didn't say anything and pointed to the wall on the right of the door, near Aya's feet. The redhead looked down and his eyes widened slightly at the sight before him. The tray, though unbroken, was leaning against the wall on top of something. Bits of something were scattered around it. When he lifted the tray, he could only blink at the broken clock, springs and gears hanging out as if it had been gutted. The hour and minute hands were nowhere to be seen and the alarm, itself, was across the room, bent. Glass was what he had seen scattered about.

Picking his way to Ken's bed, Aya slipped into what he could only assume were the brunette's sandals so he wouldn't get cut. Then he turned and began to pick up the pieces of glass and anything that could harm anyone if they just ran in.

"Don't worry about it, Ken. Though, next time, put the clock nearer you so we won't have to buy you a new one every time you decide to wake up."

Ken bit back a retort._ I should just be glad that he isn't going into his room and returning with that katana of his, screaming bloody murder._

As soon as the thought struck him, he looked at the redhead with fearful eyes. It would make sense if Aya killed him. After all, he was a threat to the missions and future assignments, and he was bothersome. Aya would probably think he was doing them all a favor by cutting him into little pieces. Then he'd serve his pieces to Omi and Yohji for dinner, saying something along the lines of, "Hidaka disappeared. But he left a few bits of himself for us to remember him by. Here's dinner." Then Omi and Yohji would just frown and start to eat.

_Well, Omi might be kinda sad, since I'd be leaving him with the idiot playboy and the homicidal killer. But he won't know that Aya's a killer until it's too late. Poor Omi. Poor me. I'm going to die._ His eyes stayed glued to Aya's form, following his every move, wondering when the redhead would just slice him up.

Aya, meanwhile, was disturbingly aware of a feeling of being watched. Very closely and intensely. When he glanced up, it was to Ken's sea-green eyes boring into him. His gaze made him a bit uncomfortable. It was…unnerving the way he was just sitting on his bed and stared. Aya took a breath and calmed himself, hiding any effect that the brunette's eyes were having on his nerves.

"Hidaka. Why the hell are you just staring at me? You think it's going to make me pick things up faster?" he asked, annoyance in his voice.

Ken jumped at Aya's voice. It had startled him out of his thoughts, just as he was debating running for his life. He looked down at his hands and shook his head wordlessly. Aya sighed and turned to leave.

"I'm going to my room to get something. I'll be back in a moment."

The younger assassin's head shot up sharply at that. "NO!" he shouted, unable to stop the onslaught of things that raced through his head at the thought of Aya leaving, and to his room, no less.

Aya paused and turned to Ken, eyebrow raised, confusion written all over his face, as well as surprise. At seeing this look, Ken immediately ducked his head, blushing.

"Ken, what the hell is the matter with you this morning? Why can't I leave?" Ken didn't say a word, instead finding something very interesting on his wall above Aya's head. Aya rubbed his temples as a headache threatened to appear. "Hidaka. Tell me."

"Just….please don't leave until Omi and Yohji wake up, ok?" was all he could manage. No way was he going to tell Aya about his imagination going haywire. But he also wasn't going to take the chance that it might come true.

Confused at the brunette's sudden change in attitude, Aya nodded dumbly and returned to picking up the broken clock. "I think the crash did more to you than you first thought, Ken."

_No, I just didn't think you were a homicidal maniac. I mean, sure, you kill people, but you're basically only following orders. But you're planning on killing me for no other reason than that I'm a nuisance._

"I'm just tired, is all, Aya. I'm fine. Don't worry," he replied, instead.

A nod was his only reply as the redhead finished cleaning up. As the last bit of glass and gears were thrown in the trash, there was a knock on the door. Not waiting for a response, the door opened and Omi popped his head in, soon followed by Yohji. Omi smiled widely when he saw Ken laying on the bed, looking much better than before.

"Hi, Ken-kun! Feeling better today?"

"Kenken! How's it going having Aya as a statue in your room?"

Aya glared at Yohji for that comment, but didn't say anything. Omi looked aghast and scolded Yohji. "Yohji-kun! You shouldn't say stuff like that! Aya-kun is not a statue!"

The playboy laughed and raised his hands in defense as the younger blonde turned on him. "I was just kidding, chibi. See? Aya isn't mad, are you, Aya?"

"Hn."

Yohji laughed, but this time it was somewhat uneasy, unheard by only those listening for it. Which Ken was. Which didn't help his already overactive imagination. But he pushed it down. He couldn't have Aya becoming suspicious.

"Calm down, Omi. I'm feeling a lot better, thanks for asking. And Yotan, Aya isn't a statue. A statue doesn't get you food, or run up and down stares. And they definitely don't glare," he said teasingly.

Aya shrugged and looked back at the two newcomers. "So why are you two in here? Did boredom finally get the best of you?"

Yohji looked offended. "Of course not, Aya! Me and the chibi here wanted to talk with Kenken, since we didn't get a chance to yesterday."

Omi nodded vigorously in agreement, though he needn't have. The remark had beenmainly directed towards the older blonde. "Ken-kun seemed pretty down the day before yesterday when he found out that he couldn't move or anything, so we decided to try to cheer him up. That…is okay…isn't it, Aya-kun? You don't mind?"

Aya shook his head and turned to Ken. "Can I go now, Ken? Or do you have something else you need for me to do?" he asked, referring to Ken's little episode, as well as his odd behavior, earlier.

Ken couldn't help the flush that returned to his face when Aya said that, but shook his head. Then he remembered the reason he had wanted the redhead to stay and raised a hand before he turned to go.

"Um, hold on, Aya."

He sighed, but looked at Ken expectantly.

The brunette wracked his brain for some reason to keep him out of his room so he couldn't get the murder weapon. It didn't click in the younger man's head that Aya wasn't even angry, much less homicidal. Yohji unknowingly solved his problem for him.

"Oh, Aya, can you get us some breakfast? We're starving, and I'm sure Kenken is, too."

Aya's gaze hardened, but he nodded. "I'll make Ken some food only because he actually can't make it on his own. You two, stop being lazy and get your own damned food."

"Oh, come on, Aya! You can get me some food too, can't you?" Yohji begged, for all the world looking as if he was going to die if he didn't.

Aya just shook his head and left. Omi turned to Ken immediately after, a wide smile on his face. "So, Ken-kun, how has life been having Aya-kun taking care of you. This proves that he cares for all of us, you know. He wants you to get better, so he's making sure you do."

"So I can go on missions again," Ken finished for him. "You know that's the only reason, Omi. Face it. He even told me himself. It's only because I'm a threat to you guys hurt, so he's going to make sure that I'm not hurt for longer than is necessary."

Omi's smile faltered. Yohji came into the conversation, then. "Kenken. Has Aya jumped your bones yet, or is he too afraid to hurt you? Or have you tried jumping him? Is that really what happened yesterday when he came in? Were you waiting for him, but couldn't get him on the ground? That is it, isn't it?"

Both of the younger men began sputtering and turned red. Ken coughed roughly and poor Omi just stared at the playboy with wide blue eyes.

"YOHJI!" both said in unison.

"What the hell would make you say that, Yohji!" Ken said, his voice a bit louder than usual.

Yohji backed up from the glare he was receiving from the recovered brunette and smiled, trying to placate him. "I kid, Kenken, I kid. I just wanted to see your reactions, and believe me, it was worth dying for. You should have seen your faces." He leaned against the wall, laughing loudly.

For some reason, Ken's redness wouldn't go down, so he just glared at Yohji. "That's not funny, Yohji."

"Oh, but it is, Kenken. You just don't see the humor in it."

"I'm going to ignore anything you say now. So, Omi-kun, thanks for coming today. Aya's good at almost everything he does," he ignored Yohji's suggestive snicker. "but having a decent conversation with someone is not one of them."

Both laughed at that, knowing full well that he spoke the truth.

"What kind of stuff has been happening in the shop? Anything interesting?"

"Other than the fan girls constantly complaining that you and Aya aren't there to make the set complete, nothing at all. Jeez, but you'd think they'd be better than the girls over at the Koneko, but no. Guess all places have girls like that," Yohji complained. "But honestly, you'd think that I would be enough to help them. I am the sexiest, after all. They should be flocking me, not bothering with lamenting you two's absence. Just doesn't make sense."

"Believe me, Yotan, I would gladly give them all to you if it were possible," Ken said, Yohji's earlier remarks already forgotten.

"Oh, but I wish you would. Though they are a bit young for even me. It's just fun to have girls as beautiful, albeit annoying sometimes, as them talking to you and admiring you. Ah, what joys they bring."

Ken rolled his eyes. "You are sad, Yotan."

"I am no such thing. I am as happy as anyone else is. And the ladies can tell. That's why they come to me for help, not you three. Well, they come to Omi for all their petty emotional problems, but I am the one they come to for support and guidance in…other areas."

"I don't even want to hear about what areas you're talking about. I can already guess a few and I definitely don't want confirmation on it."

Yohji looked at him, aghast. "Why Kenken! I never knew that your mind was so dirty! I meant helping them with carrying their stuff and cheering them up! What kind of man do you think I am?"

"Not a very good one, obviously, Yohji-kun," Omi put in.

"And I am sure that's what you meant, Yotan. You're too lazy to even think of hard labor. The only one you're fooling is yourself. We all know you're a perv."

The playboy merely laughed. "Ok, ok. I get it, Kenken. This is payback for what I said earlier about you and Aya. I'd say I'm sorry, but it was just too damn funny. So," he held out his hand to the brunette. "Truce?"

Ken smiled, but took the offered hand, shaking it harder than was necessary. "Truce. For now." He released his hand and smiled at him, both knowing that the truce wouldn't last long.

"So, Ken-kun, do your wounds feel better, or do they still hurt a lot?" Omi asked, changing the subject.

Ken looked up at the younger blonde and nodded. "Yeah. Well, actually, they still are a bit painful, but not half as bad as yesterday. Now, I think I can actually stand up without getting ready to pass out from the pain."

"Which you won't even think of doing, Hidaka. At least, not while I'm here," Aya's voice said from the doorway. All three turned around, seeing him standing there with two trays of food. "I figured that I might as well make breakfast for all of us. And I knew if I did, you two would be too lazy to go down and eat, so I brought it up here," he explained, setting the tray on Ken's lap, in easy reach of the brunette.

Yohji clapped and almost hugged Aya until he saw the glare directed his way. Instead, he opted to just take one of the plates from the tray and dig in. "Thanks, Aya! You know us so well!"

Omi did the same. "Thank you very much, Aya-kun. I really appreciate it, as I'm sure Yohji-kun does. You do cook really well, and it's so rare that you cook for any of us."

Aya just nodded, not saying a word. He didn't really care to cook for others, preferring to cook what he wanted rather than taking everyone else's tastes into account. So, while he was making breakfast, he had just fixed a few eggs for them and made some miso soup for himself. When everyone had served themselves and Ken was already eating, he sat on the floor in a corner and ate as well, not participating in the conversation, seeing as how it had already digressed with a careless remark from Ken about Yohji's many women, which, unknown to Aya, broke any truce the two had come to.

Yohji really started the insult battle by making a subtle remark about Ken's preferences, which Aya couldn't understand and which made Omi turn bright red. Ken then said something along the lines of Yohji not getting paid enough for his "work," to which the blonde retorted with the fact that at least he got laid once in a while, while the brunette probably didn't get any until he found someone who felt sorry enough for him.

Aya listened to their banter with slight amusement, though he wasn't sure how they could just speak outright and joke about that kind of stuff. He, himself, hadn't ever been able to talk like that, but he guessed some people were able to, and this was proof. A few times, he left to go do something or other, trusting Omi to keep Ken in bed and away from anything that could potentially harm him or Yohji. When he'd come back, the conversation would be basically the same, just the subject that they were talking about would have been slightly changed.

Omi, on the other hand, seemed to be taking the joking the worst, even if he wasn't the brunt of them. During their entire talk, he was beet red, the color never leaving his face, except for once, when Yohji said something concerning Omi's late night outings.

At that time, Aya finally stopped the exchange when the youngest of their group had paled considerably at that mention. It had been over nine hours since they had come in, a long time for Yohji to have been in one place, but the redhead supposed that he enjoyed these kinds of friendly teasing with Ken, seeing as how only the brunette would talk to the blonde about it.

"That's enough, Yohji," he said, more sharply than he had meant to. All conversation stopped immediately and all turned to his still sitting form. "I need to make dinner, so-"

"Dinner? Already? But it's only…" Yohji looked at the clock, for the first time noticing how late it really was. "Oh. Okay, Aya. Need any help?"

The redhead blinked, surprised at the offer. "Sure."

Yohji nudged his head at Omi's direction. "You heard the man, Omi. Go help him."

Aya sighed. He should have known better than to expect the blonde to actually help out with the chores. If it wasn't for the schedules that Omi had made, he was sure that the playboy would just sit around the house ordering them to do what they had already planned to do.

"You don't have to come, Omi. It was foolish of me to think Yohji would actually help."

He walked out of the room, leaving a snickering Yohji and a scolding Omi and Ken.

As soon as Aya was gone, Yohji turned on Ken, an odd smile on his lips. "Now, Kenken, how are you going to get into Aya's pants?"

"Yohji! Let's not go into that again, ok? It's not gonna happen, no matter how much you want it to. Now shut the hell up before I won't be able to look him in the eyes. It's hard enough as it is with the constant glaring, but that would just kill me. So no more, ok, Yotan?"

Yohji nodded, conceding. "I won't do it anymore, Kenken. Aya would jump your bones before you ever get the guts to." As soon as the words left his mouth, he ran out, soon followed by a loud bellow from Ken concerning a certain part of his anatomy. Laughter was the only answer Ken got for it as he leaned back against his pillow, groaning.

"Omi, can I kill him? Or, at the very least, maim him?"

Omi couldn't help but chuckle at the defeated sound of Ken's voice. Both of them were hard to deal with sometimes, but that's what made them fun to listen to. Too bad Ken usually lost any arguments the two had because most of Yohji's comebacks left the brunette speechless or in a rage. "Ken-kun, don't worry about it. Yohji-kun was just playing. And I don't think Aya-kun would appreciate you incapacitating another of us. I think one is enough," he replied.

Ken sighed and nodded, knowing that what Omi said was true, but it didn't make him feel any less angry with the older man. The two continued to make sensible conversation until Aya came in an hour later, carrying two trays as before. He looked around as he set them down on the bed, noticing that they were missing an assassin.

"What happened to Yohji? I was positive that he would still be here to mooch off of the food," he commented.

"He left after he insulted Ken-kun," Omi volunteered.

Aya nodded in understanding. "So that's what the yelling was about. Ken, eat," he added after seeing the brunette just staring at his food, sometimes picking at it.

Ken looked up, startled. He looked at Aya, then down at his food and forced some of it down his throat, knowing that if he didn't Aya would.

"If you didn't like that food, Hidaka, you could have told me and I would have fixed something else. Would you rather have soup or something?"

"No, Aya," Ken said, shaking his head. "It's not that. Really. The food tastes great. It's just…I'm not that hungry right now. I've got a few things on my mind. Can you guys give me some space. I don't want to sound rude, but-"

"It's okay, Ken-kun. We understand.," Omi butted in, concern clouding his eyes, though he wouldn't ask what was wrong. It wasn't his way. He stood up to go, Aya following him, though the redhead didn't say anything, nor did he look in the least as if he cared what was troubling the younger man. As they were leaving, Omi turned back to give his friend a small smile. "We'll be downstairs if you need us. And I'm sure that Yohji-kun is in his room, so he'll hear you if you're in any kind of immediate trouble. See you later, Ken-kun."

With that, he turned off the light and closed the door, leaving Ken to his musings and thoughts. Darkness enveloped the young assassin as his thoughts plagued him. Yohji's earlier words still bothered him, and had him thinking. But he couldn't let it bother him.

_Why the hell does he have to say stuff like that? It gets me so worked up and I can't even do anything about it now that I'm stuck in this damned bed._

He fell asleep soon after, a frown still on his face. The next few days were going to be harder than he had originally thought, which was not something that anyone could possibly be glad about.

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	5. Chapter 5

**_The Undeserving Love_**

**_Chapter 5_**

**By Kaden Cegali**

**A/N: Ok, so this is the 5th chapter. I hope you like it. **

**Warning: I don't own Weiss Kreuz, or any of the Weiss guys, no matter how much I wish I did...and how I wish I did...Just cursing in this, nothing too big.**

* * *

Day 6 (The Change)

_Hell. This is hell. I'm in hell. He is keeping me in this hell. He's the _cause_ of my hell._ Ken thought, for the millionth time looking over at the object of his suffering. The very dense and very clueless object of his suffering.

Over the past few days, ever since the visit from hell with Yohji and Omi, his mind had been plagued with thoughts concerning a certain redhead. Thoughts that he was sure that he wasn't supposed to have about him. And his comrade seemed to not notice anything different. None of them had, thank goodness. If Yohji had found out about his newest problem, he would be dead, in more ways than one.

But this had started with Yohji's comment, and his problems had began the very next day.

_Flashback_

_Aya came in the room, looking as ruffled as before. This time, he had been woken up by a thump coming from Ken's room ,which prompted him to see if the brunette had tried leaving his bed again. When he saw him on the floor, he growled and walked up to him, kneeling down beside him. Before he could punch him square in the jaw for disobeying everyone once again, he actually took a look at the younger man. Hs hand lowered as he saw that Ken was sleeping. _

Must have rolled over on his side, but he was on the edge of the bed. But why didn't he wake up? You'd think that falling on the ground and hitting a hard floor would make anyone wake up. Then again, this is Ken.

_Not wanting to wake the injured man up, Aya gently and painstakingly picked him up and lay him back on the bed. When the younger assassin was in the bed and out of immediate danger, he turned on his heel and began walking out of the door. A groan stopped him, however. _

"_Aya…?" Ken's voice inquired, still quiet from his earlier sleep. _

_Aya stopped and looked at him. "Get some sleep, Ken," the redhead softly replied, not sure if he was talking in his sleep, or if he had accidentally woken him up when he'd set him on the bed._

"_Why are you in here, Aya? How come you aren't asleep in your room?"_

_Aya shook his head. He must be awake, then. "Get to sleep, Ken. You need your rest."_

_Ken nodded sleepily and rolled over, snuggling into the blankets around him. "Mmk. 'Night, Aya," came his sleepy reply._

_Aya couldn't help the smile that came to his lips. "Goodnight, Ken." He walked out, yawning loudly. _

_End Flashback_

The brunette still wasn't sure why Aya had been in his room, but the fact that what he had fallen asleep to had been centered on Yohji's remarks hadn't helped any. So, since then, he had been watching the redhead closely. Noticing things that he normally wouldn't if he had been in his normal state of mind. But since he wasn't, he wasn't entirely surprised by it. 

He'd never noticed how agile and utterly graceful Aya was. Sure, he couldn't help but see it in his fighting style and when he attacked a target, but it wasn't just that. He was like that in everything he did, whether it was balancing a tray or moving some of his stuff around so that it was possible to walk in.

That was another thing he had noticed. Aya was extremely clean, unlike him. Now that he thought about it, the only times that he had been allowed in the redhead's bedroom had told him that, unlike his room, which looked like a hurricane had hit it more than once in the same day, and did so daily, the redhead's room was almost spotless, with everything in its rightful place. Nothing seemed to be off in Aya's room, while _his_ room made neat freaks have a nervous breakdown just glancing in it. The one time Aya had asked him why he kept his room so dirty, Ken could only answer that as long as he knew where everything was, he didn't care how his room looked. If anyone was foolish enough to come in his room without his permission, they deserved the shock and the near death that they deserved and would probably get by trying to walk in it. The older man didn't seem to have understood, because he had just shook his head and walked away.

Aya didn't seem to notice the extra attention he was receiving from the brunette, so for now, Ken was safe from the attack that he knew would come. The only problem was, he wasn't sure what he was thinking anymore. At least, not when it came to Aya. Because of Yohji, he had to admit that there was some attraction there. Well, on his side, there was. He had no clue how the redhead felt, but he had to admit that he actually liked Aya. Damned if he knew why. The guy was generally rude, anti-social, self-destructive, and obsessive with things that were usually beyond his control. But something about him attracted him, and he couldn't ignore it.

Every time he saw him, Ken would resist the urge to sigh like a schoolgirl. Aya's appearance was certainly striking, he couldn't deny that. Though a little pale, the redhead's physique, as well as his crimson hair, so like the color of blood, that just screamed for attention, and those amethyst orbs that held so much in them made up for it.

_So why is it that I can't just admit it to myself? I like Aya for reasons that I can't exactly explain. But it hasn't exactly helped me in this prison where he's the only person I see unless Omi or Yohji decide to come visit, which hasn't happened since I snapped at Omi for no reason._

Ken's temper had, in fact, gotten worse over the past two days, the forced confinement taking its toll on the ex-soccer player. Even though he could walk around for a few minutes without the aid of another person or crutches, he couldn't do anything that he wanted to do. So, his temper had gradually gotten worse. Now, every little thing had made him snap, but he had thankfully managed to keep his temper in check around Aya. He doubted the redhead would appreciate getting yelled at by an incapacitated assassin. And Ken certainly didn't want to die at such a young age.

But good things never last long. And this was certainly no different.

Ken turned back to the problem at hand, which was that Aya was cleaning his room for the billionth time. He didn't know why. The room seemed to get messier the more that he cleaned it. But he came in and began cleaning it, as if were now some kind of religious thing. Ken was getting fed up with it, and he needed an outlet. So he took it.

"Aya, stop cleaning the fucking floor. It's not going to do any good if you keep doing that," he snapped.

Aya didn't even bother to glance up. He knew this would come eventually. He was only lucky that it had taken so long for the brunette to begin to finally take his anger out on him, for which he was grateful. So, he tried to calm him down before it could escalate into something else.

"Ken, I'm doing this because I don't have anything better to do while I watch you, so calm down."

Ken's eyes flashed dangerously, but the redhead didn't see it. If anything, Ken hated to be reminded that he was a burden when he was hurt. "You know, you don't _have _to watch me every second, Aya. I'm not a fucking kid, so stop treating me as one!"

"Then don't act like one," Aya retorted, stopping what he was doing and facing Ken fully.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know that I was acting like you do whenever someone mentions Takatori!"

Something flickered in his violet eyes. Long ago, all four of them had silently agreed that no one would mention their pasts to the other unless that person bought it up. When he spoke, Aya's voice was soft and cold, something that went by unnoticed by the raging brunette. "You'd better watch yourself, Hidaka. You're walking on thin ice right now."

"What? Did I strike a damned nerve, Aya? Or should I say Ran? You don't like to hear the name _Takatori_, Aya? Get over it. It's fucking _over _now! He's dead! You killed him. Shouldn't that have made you happy! Why can't you just take that damned stick out of your ass and live a little, huh?"

"If you don't remember, Hidaka Ken, you have just as many problems as I do. We all do. What do you do when people mention Kase? Or even the J-League? Don't think that just because you tried to handle it better than we did that you are any better than any of us. So calm the fuck down and don't act like such an ass in the future. It takes away from your personality."

"Don't think you can just talk down to me, asshole! You're just pissed because you don't have the guts to kill me!"

"_I'm _pissed! Hidaka, if you even bothered to look back on this conversation, you'll notice that I wasn't the one who started this fight. You were," Aya said, calming his anger by remembering that Ken was only losing his temper because he had been stuck in bed for six days. It wouldn't do either of them any good by continuing this argument.

Ken paused at that, but only for a second before he verbally attacked him again. Aya's strong self-control was normally admirable, but now that he wanted a fight, it was utterly frustrating. He wanted someone to fight with, someone to just scream at him while he did the same, just to let off some steam, but the redhead didn't seem to want to get into it.

"Stop being so damned controlled, Aya! Just yell at me! Fuck, punch me, for all I care! Act like a fucking human!"

Aya didn't react to his goading, choosing instead to walk to the bed and just look down at him. "Despite what you may believe, Hidaka, I am not a robot," he said calmly. "But I will not rise to your bait, no matter how much you may want me to."

Ken shook his head, wanting to literally rip his hair out. Or maybe he should just try to slam Aya's head against the wall. But in order to do that, he would have to get up, something the redhead would definitely not let him do. He would stop him before he could even take a step.

"You're just being a damned coward. You don't want to rise to any kind of bait because you're afraid you might lose control. I don't care, Aya. Fuck you and everything you stand for. All of your goals and everything else having to do with you can just kiss my ass."

He may have been prepared for an angry Aya, but at least it he had expected him to stay controlled, like the normal Aya would have been, since a normal Aya would remember that he was still hurt and take that into account. What he wasn't prepared for was a livid Aya that didn't give a damn about the fact that he was still injured. The punch that connected with his lower jaw caught him completely by surprise. He hadn't even seen Aya pull his arm back to strike him. He rubbed the injured area and looked at the redhead, aqua eyes wide in surprise.

Aya blinked as he came back to himself. He looked down at Ken, saw the already red jaw he was sporting, and muttered, "Shit." Then, not knowing what else to do, and certainly not ready to apologize, he walked out.

Ken didn't know what to do, whether to yell at him to come back, or just nurse his jaw. Aya's anger at his statement shocked him. He didn't know what it was, but something about his last barb had hit the redhead harder than the others. Aya had even stayed generally calm when he had mentioned the man who had run over his sister and put her into a coma. The brunette had been positive that, if anything, that would have pissed the redhead off more than anything else he could have possibly said.

_I shouldn't have even started the fight. But I wanted one. I needed one. _In fact, the brunette's biggest reason for even wanting the fight was not only because of his forced confinement, but the fact that he didn't know how to deal with his growing attraction towards the older assassin, and that bothered the hell out of him.

_But why…oh shit…_ It struck him just then why Aya had reacted so violently to his words. _"Everything that has to do with you"_ were his words. Words that, used that way, also included the usually stoic man's sister, whom he loved and cherished more than his own life. _Fucking A. Now he'll never even bother to talk to me. Damn me and my big mouth.

* * *

_

Aya marched up the stairs purposefully. It had been six hours since his argument with Ken. He had had time to meditate and think back on what had happened, and because of that, he knew that he had to apologize. He didn't want to, but he knew he had to. His reaction was completely uncalled for.

_:But he did tell you to punch him. You were merely accommodating him.:_ a small voice in the back of his head suggested, but he pushed it away.

_If he had wanted me to punch him, he would have struck out at me first. Ken isn't sneaky like that. He hates that approach, so he usually goes for the direct one. No, something else was bothering him._

That was the other reason he was approaching the brunette's room. It was to find out exactly what had made the younger man so angry. With that in mind, Aya opened the door and stepped in.

He only managed a loudly called "Ken" before he noticed that the man in question wasn't there. Immediately on the alert, the redhead looked around, falling into a fighting stance. He didn't know what had happened, but no could have possibly come in there. They would have known. The four of them weren't Weiss for no reason.

Scanning the room provided no insight to what had happened. Ken was gone, and there was no sign of a struggle. A thought popped into his mind at that point.

_This is the sixth day. He could have, and probably did get up._ It made sense. That would explain everything. _But where did he go?_

He walked out of the room, not sure of where to find the brunette. The most obvious places were the basement and the kitchen, which he decided to check first. Might as well get the obvious out of the question before he went on a wild goose chase. He descended the stairs and walked into the kitchen. The place was empty of all but Yohji, who was sitting on a stool, munching on a sandwich that looked oddly green, but the redhead wasn't about to comment on it. After the last conversation with the blonde assassin about food, he was more inclined to stab himself with his own katana than to figure out just what he put inside his food.

"Aya! How's it going?" Yohji's voice interrupted his thoughts. He shook his head to clear it before answering the blonde.

"Fine. Have you been to Ken's room in the last few hours?"

The older assassin shook his head. "I haven't been in there since yesterday. Kenken seemed pretty pissed that I tried to give him some of my food, so I figured that I'd just let him calm down today. Unlike you two, I don't have a death wish."

Aya prevented the eye roll that came with that kind of irony. "Fine. I was just asking if you had. Ken was acting…strangely earlier. I just wanted to know if you had noticed."

"No," another shake of the head. "But you may want to ask Omi. I think I saw him go up there at about five this afternoon."

The redhead nodded and strode to the basement, the only place the younger blonde seemed to be on days when the shop was closed, as it was today. He found him exactly where he had thought he'd be, sitting at the computer and surfing. He cleared his throat so as not to startle the youth.

"Aya-kun! What's wrong? Is Ken-kun okay?" Omi asked, concern clouding his normally clear blue eyes.

"I was going to ask you the same question, Omi. Have you been to see him in the past few hours?"

Omi scratched his head. "Yeah, I went to see him right after I had a snack, which would have been about two hours ago. Why?"

"Did he seem…odd, to you?"

He nodded after a moment's thought. "Yeah, but I just put it down as him being still depressed because he still has one more whole day of staying in bed. Otherwise, he seemed fine. He perked up pretty fast after I came in. It was just for about five minutes when I first walked in that he was a little down. Why? Is something wrong with Ken-kun?"

Aya shook his head, though he still wasn't sure that that was the case. "I was just wondering. Thank you."

Omi opened his mouth to question the redhead some more, but he was gone. He sat back on his chair and went over the conversation he had just had with the older man. He hadn't seemed to be any more emotional or worried than normal, so maybe it was just him being thorough and not wanting Ken to do anything stupid. Eventually, he gave up on trying to read the redhead's actions and turned back to the chess game that he was playing, which had a very high stake it if he lost.

"I won't lost to you, psycsz42," he muttered under his breath to his unseen opponent.

* * *

Meanwhile, Aya was still searching for the missing brunette. He was beginning to wonder if he had just left the shop and headed to some store nearby, but it was unlikely. Yohji would have seen him and told Aya if he had left. He could have asked the blonde to keep it a secret, but the redhead was sure that the blonde didn't know anything. He didn't have a false air of innocence. Aya would have sensed that. No, the missing assassin was definitely somewhere in the shop still. But where?

Not coming up with anything, Aya headed towards the one place that he could think and figure things out. He would normally have gone to his room, but he needed fresh air now. Pulling down the ladder, he climbed it to get to the rooftop. He pulled himself up, keeping his eyes on the ladder to make sure that it didn't snap under his weight. When he looked up, it was to see the reason for his being out here sitting cross-legged near the edge, his weapons on and out. He hadn't seemed to notice the redhead just yet.

* * *

Ken opened and closed his hand, relishing in the sound of the blades moving in and out of the worn leather that kept them safe until they were ready to use. He had come up here after Omi's visit. His mind had been too crowded and he had needed somewhere to sort through everything. He knew that he was drawn to Aya, but he wasn't sure why still. He admitted that it was partly physical, but there was something else. Even after all this time up here, he couldn't quite figure it out. And the fight and his brash words constantly came back to haunt him, causing him to shake his head and try to clear them away.

_If I never get him, even back as a friend or comrade, I'll have no one to blame but myself. _

So, instead of thinking about Aya, he determined that he should just forget about it and think on other things. It was harder said than done. The grim redhead didn't seem to want to leave his mind. Everything Ken thought about was accompanied by a thought on what Aya would do. After a while, he figured out that he would constantly asking himself, "W.W.A.D." before almost everything he did. After a while, he had taken to just watching his bagh nakhs as he made them sheathe and unsheathe themselves.

"Ken?" He jumped at the voice. He had been so caught up in what he was thinking about that he hadn't even heard the ladder come down or Aya pull himself up.

_Some assassin I am._ He didn't turn around, instead choosing to continue to stare at his weapons. "Yeah, Aya?"

The redhead picked his way across the roof until he was standing next to the man. He lowered himself to a sitting position, sitting on his knees. It was a second before he spoke. "I'm sorry, Ken. I didn't mean to hit you as I did."

"Yes you did. You meant every ounce of strength that was put into that punch. You don't have to make it seem as if it was an accident."

"But I should have controlled myself better. I should not have lost control as I did."

Ken pulled his knees up to his chest, hugging them. "Don't even, Aya. You're human. Hell, I was just being an ass, just like you said I was. I should have known better than to insult you and everyone you know like that. Just let me accept the blame and we'll call a truce not to get each other so pissed, ok?"

Aya nodded, not sure of what else he could say. The brunette mimicked his action and stood, releasing his clenched fist. The blade of the bagh nakhs sheathed themselves as the trigger was released. Ken brought them up to his face, again clenching them in his fist. "You know, you haven't lectured me on why I'm out here when I should be in bed, Aya."

He shrugged. "I figured you would have already gone through that in your head. And I'm sure your imagined me was much more strict than the real thing. For all I know, my fake self probably dragged you down back to your room and chained you to the bed."

Ken flushed at the implication that statement provided. An image of him tied to the bed while Aya had his way with him flashed to his mind, though he knew that the redhead hadn't meant it like that in any way.

"Um, not exactly. I actually didn't even think of what you would say if you came and found me here. But nothing I could have come up with could possibly match what you would actually do."

"I'm that scary, am I?" Aya said, smirking.

"Nah. I'd say Crawford was scarier than you, but besides him, you're the scariest son of a bitch I know," he replied, chuckling at the thought. "So what made you think I was up here, Aya?"

"Actually, I didn't know where you were. I was coming up here to think of a place you could be. I was just lucky that you were here than anywhere else."

They fell into a companionable silence, then, Ken still standing while Aya remained kneeling. Their thoughts were very different, Aya's about how to get the brunette back into his room so he could finish up healing (one track mind, no?), and Ken's about getting a certain redhead into his bed. He couldn't seem to be able to think about anything else, but he managed to hide his thoughts from said redhead, mainly for fear of getting killed…or worse, castrated. He wanted to jump his bones, but not while it would risk any harm to any part of him.

_Damn, but I'm starting to sound like Yotan. I think he's rubbing off on me. Definitely not a good thing._

Just as Ken was about to ask Aya a serious question that could get him killed, or make his dreams come true, Omi's head popped through the hatch.

"Oh, so you let Ken-kun out of his room, Aya-kun? That's good. I could tell it was really bothering him." He piped up, looking happy. He had won his chess match and the bet it entailed.

Both men turned around, looking at the younger Weiss member as if he had caught them in a bad situation. Well, Ken was. Aya was just surprised that he had thought to come up here faster than he, himself, had.

Ken recovered first. "What's up, Omi? Everything alright?"

"Yeah. I was just wondering if you were alright. Aya-kun came to me asking about you a few minutes ago," the blonde explained.

"Oh. Ok, then." Ken looked over at Aya's sitting form, but the redhead had turned back to face the city. He didn't say anything to Omi's admission.

"Hey, Kenken! You up there?" Yohji's voice traveled to the three from the bottom of the ladder. Ken walked over to the hatch and looked down.

"No, Yotan, Omi's just talking to himself out here. Who else would Aya be asking about?"

The playboy grinned. "I don't know about that, but I can think of a few things he would be yelling about."

"Oh shut it. What do you want?" Ken asked, changing the subject. He couldn't stop the blush that appeared, however. He looked back at Aya, but he still hadn't moved from his original position. He turned back to Yohji and waited for an answer.

"You've got yourself a solo mission."

Ken closed his eyes, shook his head, and looked back at Yohji. "What? But I'm supposed to still be on sick leave."

The blonde just shrugged. "I don't know what Kritiker's thinking, but they have a mission specifically for a Hidaka Ken. The report's downstairs."

This time, Aya was the first to recover. "Ken, go see what it is."

The brunette whirled to face their leader. "But Aya-"

"You're healed, Hidaka. Kritiker knows this, so they've sent you a mission. Get it done." With that, he brushed past a gaping Ken and a still stunned Omi, climbed down the ladder, and walked past Yohji to head to his room. Seconds passed until there was the sound of a door being closed.

The three other Weiss members faced each other, all in different states of shock. None of them could believe that Aya would leave Ken to put himself in danger, just for Kritiker. But he had. Ken walked to the ladder. The pain was almost gone, but there was still a pain that was more like a soreness than anything else, but it shocked him that, after all the trouble that Aya had went through to make sure that he obeyed the doctor's orders, he would just disregard them in a second just because of orders from the higher ups.

_He had to have a really good reason. This is Aya we're talking about here. _

_:Or maybe he just wants to get you killed without having to actually do it himself.:_

_No. Aya isn't that underhanded. I know that much for a fact._

The voice that had been trying to convince him otherwise didn't reply. Ken looked at Omi and Yohji once before he went down to the basement. When the brunette was gone, both of the remaining Weiss looked at each other. Neither could usually figure out Aya's motives for doing what he did, but normally it was a good decision. This one, though, both questioned.

What had gotten into their redheaded leader now?


	6. Chapter 6

**_The Undeserving Love_**

**_Chapter 6_**

**By Kaden Cegali**

**A/N: Ok, so I finally got around to updating this one again. Sorry about that guys. I was on a roll with Never What it Seems, so I didn't really update. Anyways, this is the shortest chapter since I started writing it, but it's not too short, I hope. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of Weiss Kreuz. None...

* * *

**

Panting. The sound of weapons clashing. A scream as one weapon connected.

Ken paused in his attacks as there was a break in his attackers. He was in no hurry to start another attack so soon. His wounds were killing him, and his healing ones were starting to pain him again. Blood was dripping from his new cuts, and he was barely standing. His vision was fading in and out, and his arms felt strangely heavy and hard to move.

He stood in the middle of the room, his head barely above his shoulders, which were moving up and down with exertion. His eyes were down, his mouth open. His bagh nakhs were out and ready, but he wasn't even sure if he'd be able to fight. Multiple cuts and slashes littered his body and his clothes were damp and dripping with blood and sweat.

This entire mission had turned out horrible. Nothing had gone right since he'd gotten the mission and his orders. The problem with Aya had set everything up for disaster. First his motorcycle had ran out of gas halfway to the building where he was supposed to carry out his mission, making him walk the eight miles it took to get there. Then, one of his bagh nakhs had had a loose blade, which he'd had to fix before even starting. To top it all off, the explosives that he had planted had gone off too early, i.e., when he was in the middle of killing his target. So, being the good guards they were, they attacked him right as he came out of the room with the dead body.

They had immediately jumped him, using guns, blades, anything that had been in their arsenal. Hell, one even used a chair that had been sitting near them when they had started on him. That one had hurt like hell.

But, for now, there was break. He could rest, if only briefly. He straightened when he heard a noise behind him. Turning slowly, he forced himself to raise his fists for the fight he was positive was going to occur. Only it didn't.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? Why is there one little kitten away from his group? I thought you always ran in groups, or pairs at the very least?"

Ken felt his left eye twitch slightly at the sound of _that_ voice. "Schuldig. What the hell are you doing here?"

The redhead of Schwarz walked towards him casually, ignoring the deadly weapons on his enemy's hands. "Why, Siberian, do I have to have a reason for being here?"

"Hell yeah, you do." Ken shot back.

Schuldig shrugged. "Well, I don't. At least, if wanting to watch you fail and soak in the agony that you'll feel when you do is a reason, then I guess that's it, then."

"_Bastard!_" he hissed. "If you aren't here for _them,_ then get the hell out. I've got enough problems without you being here to make things worse."

The redhead chuckled. "You know, he's not going to care much whether you come back alive or not."

Ken inhaled sharply. "What the hell are you talking about?" he demanded.

"You know of who I speak of, Siberian. And believe me, he won't." Leaving the bewildered young man behind, Schuldig left through the door he'd come from.

Ken stood there for what seemed like hours. _Was he talking about Aya? But…why…how would he even know I was thinking about that?_

_:Duh, you idiot. He can read minds.:_ A voice scolded him.

Ken tried to clear his thoughts, which wasn't that hard, considering that he was once again bombarded with enemies coming from all sides. He raised his fists once more, bagh nakhs ready.

The first two to come through the door met early deaths, Ken's claws ripping through their armor and straight through to their hearts. The next one had more luck, managing to stay alive for more than the three seconds the others had lasted. But it wasn't good enough. He had barely managed to raise his gun to shoot before he was caught in the face by some very sharp blades. He went down like a stone. Ken turned to his next attacker, a burly guard with what looked like actual steel armor. At second glance, he was that it was only a much thicker material than the normal ones. Setting out to take care of the guard, Ken rushed him, noticing that with the heavier protection, the guard was slowed considerably. He ducked abadly thrown punch and tried to stab the man through the heart, trying to get it over with fast.

What he didn't count on was that his weapon would shatter like glass. The blades on the bagh nakh broke as it encountered the hard material that was the guard's chest. He stared at them in shock before a thick fist connected with his face, sending him flying. Barely catching himself, he still managed to land heavily on one arm, wincing as he heard a small crack.

_Damn. He dislocated my shoulder. But…at least it was the one with the broken bagh nakh and not the other one. Though that may soon follow._

He stood on shaky legs and forced himself to watch the huge man while he tried to figure out a way to keep his life intact. _He's too big to try to wrestle down, but I can't take him down with just my weapons either, seeing as how he's wearing that strong protection. But…his face isn't protected. And neither are his legs. This is gonna be tricky, but I think an assassin as talented as myself can pull it off. _

His plan made out, he took one step forward. The large man, for some reason, hadn't even moved. But, at his movement, he charged for him, doing exactly as Ken wanted him to. Ken ducked just as the man tried to grab him, then aimed his claws for the man's inner knee. It caught, ripping through the clothing and soft flesh beneath. A howl rang out from the brute as he fell to his knees, giving Ken the opportunity he needed. With all the strength he could muster, the brunette swung his arm downward at the man's bowed head, almost cleanly decapitating him. The severed head fell to the floor with a thud.

Three guards, having seen this, decided that he would be easier to take down if he was surrounded. They circled him, weapons raised. One had a nightstick-looking thing, but slightly longer, another a large knife, while the last carried a gun, which Ken would bet was empty since he hadn't used it yet.

He faced them all as they backed him up against one of the four doors in the room. He looked around, only slightly worried.

_They can't do much. Even if I am tired, they can't hurt me as much as that big guy._

A quick, sharp pain proved him wrong. Those three couldn't hurt him, but someone else could, and did. Ken looked behind him at the once closed door. It was now open and a frightened guard was looking at him with wide eyes and now bloody hands. _Well…don't they have some guts. They lured me over here and had this guy stab me while I wasn't paying attention. Good thing he isn't a good aim, though. Or else he's scared shitless. Either way, I'm almost positive tha he missed any vital things. But, damn if that doesn't hurt. _He moved his shoulder a bit, then winced.

The others took this as their cue and tried to jump the assassin. But, even wounded, they were no match for Ken. He threw his body to the side, through an opening between two of the guards, narrowly missing their combined attack. Grabbing a fallen knife, he tossed it at one of the oncoming guards, catching them in the throat. Another, he took care of with his bagh nakh, ripping open his throat for all to see. Ragged breaths escaped him as he roundhouse-kicked another one, then jump on him. He snapped his neck, at the very least paralyzing him and keeping him out of the fight. There was one remaining guard. The rest had already fled or were dead, their corpses littering the ground. When Ken looked at the last one, he grinned unknowingly. It was the one who had stabbed him.

"You're going to pay for that treachery, mother-fucker." He said, loud enough for the cowering guard to hear. The man whimpered and ran for the nearest exit, but he wasn't fast enough. Ken ran after him, catching up to him just as he reached the door. Already enraged and half-crazed from the lack of blood, Ke raised his fist and slammed his blades into the man's skull, the blades coming out right between his wide, terrified eyes.

As the dead man fell to the floor, Ken forced himself to release his fist, letting the blades retract. His arm hung at his side limply. He knew it was useless. His other arm was dripping blood like it was coming from a water fountain. The continuous stream of blood told him what he had feared. Someone had cut through something major, or it was just a bleeder. Hoping it was the latter, he forced his weary body to walk, avoiding all the bodies on the floor. He approached the door and opened it.

When he finally got outside, he staggered to the road where he would have normally left his motorcycle to wait. Only he hadn't brought his motorcycle. It was sitting in the middle of the road somewhere too far away.

_And I can't actually call a taxi looking like this._

He walked the half-mile to the nearest pay phone and dialed the only number he could trust. He touched his dislocated arm and winced as he waited for the phone to pick up. When the ringing stopped, a clearly annoyed, but wholly welcomed voice answered.

"What?"

"Aya?" he could barely get above a whisper.

Aya's voice came back, and Ken could swear that there was concern in his voice, but he couldn't tell. "Hidaka? Where are you? Your mission should have ended hours ago."

Ken grimaced when he tried to chuckle. It hurt too much to do that right now. "I…I was a little caught up and things got out of hand. But, everything's fine now. I, uh…I need a pick-up, Aya."

"What happened to your motorcycle?"

"It, ah, ran out of gas on the way here," Ken explained, embarrassed.

He heard a sigh on the other line. "I'll come by. Just wait, okay?"

"I don't really have a choice, now do I?"

"No, but still. I feel I should say it." the redhead replied. "Good-bye, Hidaka."

"Oh, and Aya?" he said quickly, before the redhead could hang up.

"What, Ken?" he asked, his voice clearly showing his exasperation.

Ken swayed slightly, his blood loss finally really catching up to him. "You, uh…you may…you may want to…hurry…" He hung up, then collapsed onto his knees.

He panted on all fours, trying his best to stay awake as he waited for Aya to come pick him up. _Schuldig was wrong. He really sounded like he cared. And he sounded relieved when he found out it was me._ But the Schwarz member's words kept coming back to him. He couldn't shake them.

_What if Aya was only concerned because if I was killed, it would jeopardize Aya's plans and the missions they received afterwards? What if he was only relieved because then he wouldn't have to come and hide a body that should never have existed?What if…_


	7. Chapter 7

**_The Undeserving Love_**

**_Chapter 7_**

**By Kaden Cegali**

**A/N: I am so very sorry for everything, guys! School started, so unfortunately, I'm going to have to change the promise I made to two weeks instead of one. I'll still try to update every week, but you are going to be guarranteed a chapter at least every two weeks. Again, very sorry for that...**

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything Weiss Kreuz**

**-----------**

Crawford watched as Schuldig approached him, a huge grin on the German's face. "What did you do, Schuldig?"

"You mean, you don't know? You? The precog?" Schuldig said sarcastically, earning a glare for his efforts.

"Just tell me," Crawford ordered.

Schuldig shrugged carelessly. "Nothing really. I went to see how Siberian was doing, or rather, the destruction I caused by setting those bombs off. His pain was delicious, Crawford. I wish you could have tasted it. You would have appreciated it. Of course, the little kitten didn't even know that I had set off the bombs early. He was too busy cursing himself for not setting the timers right."

"And let me guess. You didn't say anything to correct him?"

"Of course not! Anger doesn't taste as good as self-pity, Crawford. You should know that by now."

When the telepath didn't continue, Crawford prompted him, saying, "And what happened to Siberian? Did that 'special' guard we sent in succeed?"

Schuldig snorted. "If you mean did he succeed in pissing off the kitten and getting himself killed, then he did a fine job. But, he did injure our little assassin quite nicely before he was killed. Too bad he was too stupid to finish him off before Siberian recovered." He rolled his eyes. "Oh well. A pity we can't have strong _and_ intelligent minions."

Crawford listened to all of this with a straight face, only a muscle in his jaw giving away his agitation. "So Siberian is still alive?"

"Of course he is, though, I'd say just barely. Not only was he injured from his crash…one I had very much fun causing, I might add-"

"Don't take credit for what Nagi did, Schuldig."

The redhead waved his correction away like he would an annoying fly. "Yes, yes, but let's not go into petty details. Anyways, he had a lot of other cuts that were caused by the guards, one of which I'm almost positive is a serious one. And, the best thing of all is that I got to mess with his head a little before that idiotic thug came in and screwed things up. It was very entertaining to feel the doubt taint his almost innocent mind."

Crawford interrupted the telepath on his rambling. "What, exactly, did you do to Siberian, Schuldig?"

Schuldig grinned maniacally at his reluctant associate. "I just made him doubt his teammate, Abyssinian. You know, the boy loves him. He just doesn't realize it just yet. And I made sure that he would continue to doubt it, though it would be easier to take care of both of them with that kind of weakness. But, their despair feels so much better than anything else."

Brad had to go through everything the redhead had just told him, then he smiled. "For once, Schuldig, you did a good thing. But, we won't be the ones to destroy Weiss. No…Kritiker will do that all on their own."

Schuldig perked up, sensing something interesting was about to be said. "Oh really, Crawford? And how will they do that? Weiss _is_ Kritiker's most precious weapons, after all."

"They have other weapons. And, it seems as if they are already trying to get rid of the pests."

An insane little giggle escaped the telepath as he heard this and realized it was true. "It seems like I'm going to have to watch the little kittens a lot more now."

---------

Aya found the bleeding and half-dead assassin by the phone booth he had traced him to. It had been hell trying to figure out where the brunette had called from. He had finally just drove from place to place near the mission site until he had found this place. He hadn't woken either of the other Weiss members to tell them where he was going. He hadn't thought he would need to.

Now he thought better of that, but it was too late now.

He knelt beside the unconscious body of his fallen comrade. His left arm was bent at a crooked angle, telling him it was either broken or dislocated. Blood pooled around his form, soaking what little clothing there was that was still clean. His face was bloody and beaten, and there was a knife wound in his shoulder. Looking at him like this, Aya was surprised that he was even still alive.

_But this is Ken we're talking about. He doesn't seem to die from anything._ he thought absently.

He shook the fallen assassin lightly, seeing if he could wake him up to get him to make this easier on himself. Nothing happened. Ken's face shifted, his hair falling over his eyes, giving him an innocent look, despite the bruise already forming on his cheek and the blood coating his hair and forehead.

Sighing, frustrated, Aya gingerly slid his arm under Ken's shoulder and the other under his knees. He picked him up, staggering a bit under his weight. Heading towards his car, he carried the unconscious man until he approached the car. He had left the door open, so he slid Ken in as easily as he could, wincing when he heard a thump coming from the brunette's head area. Hopefully, he wouldn't notice it when he woke up.

_:If he wakes up.:_ A voice inside said. He pushed it aside, not wanting to think about that. About never talking to the brunette again.

_I wouldn't be able to stand that. I'll just have to make sure that he gets better._

_:And you should. It's you're fault, after all. You did send him on this suicide mission.: _That voice said, sounding very much like he would expect Crawford to.

_It's his job. He knew the dangers. _He tried to explain his guilt away.

_:But you didn't even try to stop him. In fact, you told him to go, knowing that he was still hurt. And you knew he would obey your orders over Kritiker's. Coward.:_ The relentless voice accused.

He chose not to argue with it, knowing it was right deep down. He closed the door to Ken's side and got in on his side. Starting the engine, he glanced at the brunette's prone body sitting in his car, blood still seeping from his multiple wounds. He gunned the engine, trying his best to reach the safe house as fast as possible. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if Ken died after this.

----------

Omi came awake to thunderous knocking on his door. Rubbing his eyes, he stood and walked to his door. He opened the eyes and looked outside to glare at the person at his door. Sleep evaporated as he saw Aya standing in front of his door with an unconscious and bloody Ken in his arms. The pained and terrified expression on the normally expressionless redhead caused more worry than Ken's condition.

"Aya! Is he ok?" He didn't voice his silent question, but they both heard it as clearly as if he had. _Is he dead?_

Aya shook his head at the unspoken question. "He's still alive, but he's severely wounded and in need of immediate medical attention. I couldn't take him to an emergency room, and none of Kritiker's men are answering my calls. I thought you and Yohji could help me clean him up and try to fix him up. Hurry, Omi."

Shocked, Omi nodded dumbly. "Um….g-get Yohji and meet me down in the basement."

A quick jerk of the head and Aya was gone. Omi quickly gathered as many materials as he thought he might need and charged down to the basement, where he saw Aya just beginning to lay Ken on the couch. Absently, he noted that they would have to get a new couch after this. Pushing that aside, he quickly rushed over to them and pushed Aya aside.

"Where's Yohji?" he demanded.

"Right here, chibi." Yohji said from the stairway. He stood by Aya and looked down at Ken, worry clouding his face. "Is he gonna live?"

Omi looked over his friend, taking in the bruises and cuts all over his arms and face. "I hope so. We need to take off his shirt before the blood glues itself to him."

Aya silently knelt down by the younger assassin and pulled off Ken's bagh nakh. Using one of the remaining blades, he cut a rip in the bloody shirt, then pulled it apart gingerly, making sure that none of it was already sticking to the brunette's skin. When it was clear, he gently lifted Ken to take the shirt away completely, then moved out of the way so that Omi would have his space.

The younger blonde examined the prone body of his friend. "We need something to fix this shoulder with. And something to stem the blood. Aya-kun. Get some towels. Yohji, get some water in a bucket." When both of them continued to look at him, he snapped, "Hurry up! Ken-kun doesn't have time for you to waste time!"

Both immediately followed his instructions. Aya came back with armfuls of towels just ahead of Yohji with two large buckets full of water. They set them down next to Omi and waited for further instruction, since the youngest of them seemed to know what he was doing. Omi used one of the towels to bathe their comrade, being gentle around the nastier cuts and slashes on his upper chest. He took special care to avoid Ken's arm. Soon, he was finished with cleaning him. One of the buckets of water that Yohji had brought was a deep red from all the blood he had cleaned off. Aya and Yohji looked at him with worry in their eyes.

He sat back, but didn't say anything. Instead, Omi turned to the things he had brought, pulling out some stitching material and a needle. He turned to the two waiting men. "I'm just going to stitch him up. It should work for the time being, but as soon as we can, we need to get him a real doctor. Especially with his arm, although I think that it's just dislocated since there isn't any bone sticking out anywhere.

Both Weiss members took this all in, Yohji with a widening of his eyes, and Aya with his cold mask firmly back in place. Omi turned back to his fallen friend, and set to work.

----------

Aya watched Omi work, the urge to hold Ken's hand, even if the brunette wouldn't be aware of it. More and more he was regretting his demand that Ken go on the mission. Because of him, the Weiss member was injured badly and would be out of commission for a while. Again. And this time, Kritiker wouldn't be as understanding.

_They might even send in their specialists._ Aya shuddered at the thought. But no. They would go to that length quite yet. First, they would see if any of the other Weiss would take care of their problem. But he knew for a fact that neither Yohji or Omi would do it. :_Would you: _That evil voice asked.

He had to actually think about it. Would he?_ No. I couldn't do that. I've already done too much. _

"Aya-kun?"

He snapped out of his reverie at Omi's hesitant calling. How long had he been debating and arguing with himself? "What, Omi?" he asked, his question coming out sharper than he had meant it to. He saw Omi wince before the blonde answered.

"Can you take Ken-kun to his room? I've cleaned him up and stitched him up the best I could. And I fixed his shoulder…sort of. It was dislocated, so I had to pop it back into place. He should be reasonable good right now, but he's going to be in a lot of pain when he wakes up. Do you…" he trailed off.

Aya understood what he was asking and nodded. "I have some stuff for him. You'll be taking care of him while Yohji and I take care of other things. You seem to be better adept at it. I'll give you the pain killers and let you stay with him. If you need a break, come call me or Kudou."

Omi nodded his head vigorously while Aya picked the still unconscious Ken up. He walked up the stairs of the basement and then up the stairs of Ken's bedroom. He shouldered open the door and headed to the bed. Gingerly, he placed the body down on the bed, then stood and just looked at him. Ken's face, now clean, sported multiple bruises and cuts, one above his left eye. His hair had been cleaned, so it wasn't matted with blood anymore. Though he was black and blue with tinges of red everywhere, he had a considerably peaceful expression on his face.

_:What would you have done if he had died tonight:_

_I don't want to think about it. _

Blocking the annoying voice from his mind, he turned and left the room. As the door closed, he heard something behind him.

"What would you have done if he'd have died, Aya?" Yohji's voice repeated the little voice's question as Aya whirled around to confront him.

Aya's eyes widened considerably at his question, then he schooled his features. "What are you talking about, Kudou? If he would have died, it would have been just another loss. Like Kritiker tells us so very often, we are expendable."

Yohji raised an eyebrow at that. "Oh really? You would have felt no guilt at all?"

A tick formed in the redhead's cheek. "Guilt about what?" he asked tersely. "It was his mission."

"But he wouldn't have gone if you hadn't told him to. He was following your orders, _O Great Leader_." He said mockingly. "Ken went out there because he wasn't going to make _you_ mad. He couldn't care less what the hell Kritiker told him to do. You're pathetic if you didn't know that."

Violet eyes flashed dangerously. "Don't insult me, Kudou. You're on a very thin line." he warned.

Yohji snorted and glared at him. "Don't give me that. You don't scare me, you coward." He paused, then gave a harsh bark of laughter. "That's all you are, Aya. If you can't confront you're feelings and talk to Ken, then all you are is a damned worthless coward."

Aya opened his mouth to retort, but the blonde was already walking away. A few seconds later, he heard a hard slam of a door. He stood in the hall, staring at where Yohji had left. _What the hell is he talking about?_ he asked himself, not getting what the blonde had wanted of him. _What feelings?_ He shook his head and marched to his room. Getting out the pain killers, he walked downstairs to where Omi was still sitting, but this time he was on his trusty computer, typing away.

"What are you doing, Omi?" he inquired.

Omi didn't stop typing or look around. "I'm searching. Don't you think it's a little strange that no one from Kritiker was available? I mean, sure, sometimes we can't get a hold of one, but we can always contact at least someone, even if it's just an operator. But this time, no one was available. It bothers me."

"Do you think they had something to do with Ken's being hurt?" His heart sank at the thought.

"I don't know. That's what I'm checking for. Some kind of clue. Kritiker knew this mission would be dangerous. They had to. With all the guards there, they should have warned Ken-kun about it, but they didn't. In the report, it says that there is just minimum security. But unless this was a top notch security prison base, I doubt that was true. So why didn't they warn him, I'm wondering? I think there is a lot more to this than we first thought, Aya-kun."

Aya nodded. He understood where Omi was coming from. And he knew that most of what the blonde said was very true. Kritiker was up to something. But what?

He shook his head and looked at the computer screen over Omi's head.. "And you haven't found anything? Nothing that could give us an idea?"

Omi shook his head. "No. I just can't see-"

"Stop there! Don't move the computer!" Aya interrupted, his entire concentration on the words on the screen.

Omi stopped and looked at the screen as well, but nothing jumped up at him. "What is it, Aya-kun?"

It took a while for him to answer. For a while, he almost considered not telling the young blonde, but figured it wouldn't do any good to keep it to himself. If it was what he thought, it seemed like they'd need everyone in Weiss to help. Including the unconscious, gorgeous man in the upper room.

He paused. _Where did that come from? Since when did I think of Ken as gorgeous?_

The little voice spoke up again. _:Since you started falling in love with him:_

He stopped breathing at that thought. Was he in love with him? He shook his head and forced his attention back to the problem at hand. But he knew that that realization had just upped his determination to find this out. And quickly.

He raised his hand and pointed to the screen, or more importantly, the sentences on the screen.

"'_The dealings with § are coming underway and the plans will soon be carried out as we have been ordered. The problems of Kritiker won't be a problem much longer.'"_

_----------_

**_Well, that's it. Hope you liked it. And this is probably the only time I'll do this._**

**_Review Responses_**

**_So I figured that I should thank these people for reviewing._ **

**RosefaerietaleRed: Thank you so much for reviewing and reading since the beginning. Believe it or not, Yohji's teasing was the hardest thing to do, probably because I can't image talking like that with my friends...or maybe it's because I'm not a guy. And I tried really hard to get their interactions with each other down, so I'm glad that it worked right. Thanks.**

**thelastunicorn: I love long reviews and you gave that to me! You rock! Even if you didn't review for the other ones, you definately made up for it in this. I kinda explained Kritiker's and Schu's involvement, so I hope that that worked. The rest will be explained later in the chapters. And I actually based Ken's problems with is bike on a friend of mine. It was hilarious to hear about, but I doubt its very funny when it happens to you. The thing with Aya's annoyed voice was that he was annoyed that someone would dare call him so late at night. In my mind, it didn't even occur to him that it would be Ken, so yeah. Thanks.**

**Mockorange7: Again, I kinda explained the whole Kritieker thing, but the most part is going to be explained later in the chapters. And Aya's sigh was because he thought Ken was being very incompetent. Very Aya-like reaction, no? heh. Thanks.**

**artemis347: waves hand in placating motion Let's try not to abuse the bishi...And I hope I gave you enough Schu to be happy for this chapter. I guarrantee that he'll be in there more in the later chapters. I have a Schu fanfic, but since it went against the rules, I had to put it on another website. Oh well. Well, hope you enjoyed it. Thanks.**

**coldsunshin: I don't know how you could have missed this! But I'm glad you found it and are enjoying it. I actually really tried on this story, unlike some of my other ones...looks back at unfinished projects Yeah...well, I'm glad you liked it and thanks, anyways...**

**_Ok, so that's it. I am so happy for the reviews I got. You guys rock, and I hope you keep reading. I guess I'll have to keep it interesting then. Again, thank you for reading and reviewing, and thank you to those who read...but I'd rather you told me what you like and don't like about my story...Oh well. Hope you liked this chapter and I'll try to update ASAP!_**

**_KC_**


	8. Chapter 8

**_The Undeserving Love_**

**_Chapter 8_**

**By Kaden Cegali**

**A/N: I am so sorry that this one took so long. I've been battling writer's block for this story, which is why this is actually kinda short. I'm sorry and I hope this isn't a disappointment to my readers. I'll try to post an extra long chapter next time with more events happening. Thanks to all those who reviewed my story. It was greatly appreciated. **

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything related to Weiss Kreuz, other than my storyline and any OOC-ness that occurs. Read & Review!**

* * *

Ken awoke to nothingness. For a second, he thought himself still dreaming. That soon ended as pain consumed his entire body and he gave a whimper. His eyes scrunched tightly against it as the memories of the mission assailed him. The bombs going off too early, the guards coming in, the huge monster of a man whose hands he almost died by, Schuldig appearing and what he said, then calling Aya and being so glad just to hear the redhead's voice. He didn't remember anything else after he passed out. He had flashes of being in Aya's car, of being in the basement with Omi hovering over him, but he couldn't tell if those were actual memories, or they were just a bad dream.

He heard shuffling through his pain before he heard Omi's soft, worried voice. "Ken-kun? Are you awake? Do you need some more medication o help with the pain?"

Ken forced the pain down and cracked open his eyes. Being the considerate person that he was, Omi had already turned the lights off and opened the door just enough to let some light in. "Yeah, I'm awake. And I don't need any painkillers. I'm fine, I think." His voice was hoarse from lack of use. He swallowed and tried to clear his throat to make it sound better, but he was less than successful. "Can I get some water?"

The blonde nodded and ran out the door. He came back a few minutes later with a tray. He sat down and set the tray down on the dresser before going to Ken. "Let's get you sitting up, ok, Ken-kun?"

Nodding, Ken couldn't stop another whimper of pain when Omi helped him sit up and rest against the headboard. He hated that he couldn't even sit up by himself, having always prided himself on being strong enough to take care of himself. The younger assassin picked up the tray and lay it on his lap. He saw that, not only had the blonde brought him a cup of water, but he had also taken it upon himself to make a sandwich for him. Tampering his pain, Ken grabbed the cup with shaky hands and brought it to his lips. He managed to get most of it down, but some of the water trickled down his chin and onto his chest. He realized belatedly that he was only wearing a pain of boxers. When he finally finished, his throat felt much better and he put the cup back on the tray. He gave a shaky smile at Omi's wide-eyed expression.

"Don't worry, Omi. That made me feel better." Omi visibly relaxed. "How long have I been out?"

The blonde hesitated before answering. "Ten days."

Ken stared at him in shock and disbelief. "Ten days! But how? That can't be right. What's happened since I've been in this mini coma?"

Omi answered each of his questions with a patience that he was known for. "You had a lot of wounds and you lost a lot of blood, Ken-kun. When Aya brought you in, I had to clean and stitch up your worst wounds while Yohji called in some favors to get some blood to give you. I just took out the stitches yesterday."

"Wait," Ken interrupted. "What do you mean _you_ had to stitch me up and _Yohji_ had to call in some favors. What happened to Kritiker? Shouldn't _they_ be the ones doing all that?"

Omi sighed. "That's what I was going to say. We haven't been able to get ahold of Kritiker since we found you. Suspicious, I tried to find out what was wrong and we found a message that was talking about a problem not being a problem anymore. After our troubles contacting anyone from Kritier, it was only natural that we assumed that we are the problems addressed in the message. So, I've been searching for any other clue while Aya-kun and Yohji-kun took care of the shop. I've also been your nurse, in a way, caring for you since Aya said I was the best suited for the job. Thus far, we haven't found much aside from a few little snippets of information, but we have yet to confirm anything or confront Kritiker."

The brunette took this all in with surprising ease. It kind of scared him how unsurprised he was. But it did all make sense. "Has anyone else gotten any missions?" he asked, dread consuming him at the thoughtm but Omi shokk his head.

"Like I said, we haven't had any communication whatsoever with Kritiker since before your mission."

He nodded at that, his fear relieved. The thought of any of them going through what he did pained him, and he didn't want that for his friends. "So what does Aya think of all this?"

"Well, let's see. The fool hasn't slept, has barely eaten, is pissy and rude as hell, and chasing away all of our customers with his glare-o-doom," Yohji said from the doorway. He was leaning against the doorframe, smiling, but Ken could see the tension in his stance. "Basically, he's being his normal, obsessive, infuriating self."

"Yohji-kun!" Omi admonished.

"What? He is and you know it. You just haven't been around him as much since Kenken has been hurt and in his little coma. I'm really close to bending him over and pulling that stick out of his ass."

Ken laughed, but stopped immediately after when pain racked him. He hid it quickly, but couldn't stop the small wince. Yohji and Omi both stopped talking and the younger blonde leaned near him, his expression frantic with worry. Painfully, Ken waved him off, which he did, albeit eventually and rather reluctantly.

"I'm ok, Omi. Really. It just hurts, but already it's kinda fading. So, Yohji, are you the one who got me the meds, too?" he asked, trying to get their minds off of him.

The playboy shook his head. "No, that was Aya's doing. He had some stashed in his room for God knows why. Remember to thank him for it, Kenken, even though he may not accept it."

"Yeah, I will. But only if he doesn't glare at me the second he sees me."

Yohji laughed at that. "Well, then, that leaves out the thanks, I guess. I was serious when I said that he was seriously pissed off. I don't know what's wrong with him. He's more so than usual, and that's saying a lot. The thing is, I don't think it's because of the problem with Kritiker," he smiled at Ken, who realized what he was talking about and opened his mouth to speak, but the blonde continued. "I should probably get back to Mr. Tall, Red, and Pissy before he gets an aneurysm."

Ken didn't even manage to get his name out before the blonde was gone. He sighed in frustration.

_As if my mind isn't fucked up enough by what Schuldig said, he's got to come and screw with me some more. Sadistic psycho. Him and Schu are perfect for each other."_

"Ken-kun?" Omi inquired. Ken looked at the blonde, making sure to mask his thoughts from his face. He knew that Omi probably didn't want to hear about this. "You ok on your own for a while?"

Ken smiled at him kindly and nodded. "Go ahead and take a break from baby-sitting, Omi. I'm sure I'll be fine by myself."

Omi beamed at him. "Thanks, Ken-kun." He turned to leave, but at the door, paused and turned back to pin him with a stern expression. "You aren't allowed to leave this room, Ken-kun. You're still seriously injured and your wounds are just now healing. I don't want to have to search the entire city to find you. Okay, Ken-kun?"

The brunette didn't answer immediately, mainly because he didn't want to promise something to the younger assassin that he didn't plan to keep. Finally, seeing that he wasn't going to leave him alone until he got something, he sighed. "Fine, Omi. I won't leave this room without telling someone about it."

Omi decided to take that, since it was probably the only thing he was going to get out of the brunette. Nodding, he left the dark-haired assassin to his own devices.

As soon as the blonde was gone, Ken struggled to stand up. He clenched his teeth against the pain, and by the time he was standing on shaky legs, it was almost bearable. He took his first step and almost collapsed. It had been a while since he had walked at all, and his muscles had to get used to it again. He barely managed to steady himself and concentrated on making his feet move slowly and carefully through his room up to the door. For once, his room was spotless, making him assume that Omi had gotten bored just watching his unmoving form and cleaned it. He shuffled through the door, then contemplated on whether he should attempt going downstairs or not. Deciding against it, he shuffled to where Aya and Yohji's rooms were found.

He didn't know why, but he just wanted to see if either of them were in, even though Yohji had just told him where he was going, and Aya was sure to be in in the shop already. But he needed someone that wouldn't blush if he said anything crude, or not lecture him if he did something wrong or rude. Sometimes, Omi was just too naïve or prudish for his own good.

Nearing their rooms, he began to have second thoughts about what being there. Aya hated for people to barge into his rooms, or even bother him while he's in there unless there was an emergency, and he was terrified to see the inside of Yohji's room. As much sex as that man had, he probably had tens of thousands of toys that he used on a regular basis. Debating with himself, he was just about to turn around and head back to his rooms when a voice stopped him.

"What are you doing up, Ken?"

He hesitated a fraction of a second before turning around to face a very angry Aya. He smiled uneasily when he caught a glimpse of the redhead's violet glare. "Uh, hi, Aya. H-how's it going?"


	9. Chapter 9

**_The Undeserving Love_**

**_Chapter 9_**

**By Kaden Cegali**

**A/N: Yay! Two chapters to this story! And say good-bye to writer's block! lol. Anyways, enjoy this chapter. Please Read and Review. Thanks to all those who do that anyways.**

**Disclaimer: Don't own Weiss, even though I'd really like to. But I'll get over it.

* * *

**

Ken was practically shaking in his proverbial shoes. The sight of Aya made his knees get weak, but he managed to stay standing. He resisted the urge to lower his eyes.

"Aya. Um, I thought you were downstairs with Yotan?"

The redhead continued to glare at him through slit violet eyes. Ken shifted uneasily in his position, raising his chin a fraction. Aya walked right up to him, not breaking their eye contact the entire time.

"What are you doing here, Hidaka?" he asked again, completely ignoring anything Ken might have said.

The brunette raised his chin another fraction, his defiance and stubbornness returning. "I was walking around. What does it look like I'm doing, Aya? I got bored in the room and Omi left."

Aya closed his eyes as if stopping himself from doing anything rash to Ken. When he opened them, the glare was gone, replaced by something that he couldn't place. "You should be in bed now. You've been hurt badly, Ken."

"And I've been recovering in that bed for ten days!" he exclaimed.

* * *

Aya stepped back, surprised. He had been happy to see the brunette alive and well, though he had known from Omi and Yohji that he would live that he hadn't thought about what he was saying. But, to see him up close, to see with his own eyes that he was okay. It soothed the anger that had been gradually spreading throughout his body ever since Omi and he had found that message on the computer. Even since he had found out that Ken had been set up and he had encouraged him to face his death. 

He didn't want Ken to be mad. But he didn't know how else to deal with the brunette than in his normal fashion. Which he knew pissed him off to no end.

"Well, what do you expect, Hidaka? You were hurt so badly that Omi wasn't even sure if you were going to make it through the night," he snapped.

Ken shifted uncomfortably. "I know that I caused a lot of trouble, Aya, but I didn't know that there were so many guards, and I could have sworn that I set the bombs to go off thirty minutes after they did. I swear to you that I made sure, Aya. Nothing could have set those off…except…" he trailed off and his eyes widened.

_No. He wouldn't have, would he? Then again, this is Mastermind I'm thinking about here._

_/Ah, little kitten. I wouldn't say anything about me if I were you. I don't think that it would be good for you to speculate. I just suggest you forgot I was even there./_

Ken's eyes were saucers as he heard Schuldig's voice in his mind. _'Why the hell would I keep such obviously crucial information to myself? For all I know, you might be working for Kritiker.'_

_/Oh, we would never work with bastards such as them. They'd turn on us just like they have you. No, we have nothing to do with it. As to why I'm telling you to keep silent, well, just remember that you are exposed. Or should I say that a certain blonde is very exposed at the front of your store right now. Think about that before you say anything. I'll know if you tell./_

Ken growled, knowing that he couldn't say anything now. Not with Yohji's life in danger. The playboy might be an assassin, but he would never see anything that Schuldig could throw at him in time. _Dammit._

He turned his attention back to Aya, whose glare was slowly dissipating once more. He sighed. Now he couldn't tell the redhead the one thing that might give them a lead.

"Except, Ken?" Aya asked slowly.

His jaw clenched. He didn't know what to say. He was one of the worst at lying to the members of Weiss. He had known them too long for them not to see the spark that left his eye when he lied. And looking away was a dead giveaway that he was lying. Aya would never let him get away with it.

"Nothing. A stupid thought just crossed my mind." he said, not completely lying. Thinking of lying to Aya _was_ a stupid idea.

The redhead's eyes bore into his skull as if trying to see if he was telling the truth, but after a few moments, he must have decided to accept it. He shrugged. "Right now I'm open to any suggestions. You don't have to tell me about the bombs. After we saw that letter, we figured that you were set up, and the bombs were part of that."

Ken scratched the back of his head. He moved it a bit out of the way when he felt something there, and a slight pain made him wince. But, he didn't remember getting hit back there. Not even the hulk of a guard had managed to touch the back of his neck.

"Hey, Aya? Do you know where I could have possibly hit my head? I don't really remember much about it."

Aya bit his lip. He knew perfectly well where that pain had come from. Yet, he saw no reason to lie, though he didn't want to tell the brunette that he had hit him and caused him even more pain. He shrugged. "You hit your head when I carried you in the car. Your head hit the side of the car. And I think you might have hit it when you fell down after you passed out before I came." he added, not wanting complete blame laid on him.

Ken nodded as if accepting it. "You aren't forgiven, and I'll get you back, but I'll get you back later. I'm too tired right now to chase you around with a bat or sword or anything."

Aya wasn't sure how to respond to that not-so-veiled threat, so he didn't. There was silence between them for a couple of beats. Ken's mind went back to the day before he had gotten the mission from hell.

"Aya?"

The redhead looked up from his study of the floor. Curiosity colored his eyes. "Yes?"

Ken turned his head away, not wanting to look into his face. "About the night I got the mission from Kritiker," he didn't see Aya stiffen ever so slightly. "I was going to ask you…." he paused and took a deep breath. "Why were you the one who volunteered to take care of me?"

The redhead replied immediately. "Because Yohji and Omi were arguing about it and I figured that I was just as good as any of them. Also, I wanted to make sure that you didn't get into trouble, which Omi has proven correct."

"So what changed this time? What happened in the time from when you thought that to when you brought me back from the mission. As you've said, obviously you were the best one, so what changed?"

* * *

Aya looked away. _It was when I figured out that I love you. _He said silently. _I didn't want to look at you while you were so hurt for fear that I would rush out and confront Kritiker myself for what they did to you. _But he would never tell the brunette that. 

Aloud, he said, "Omi was the best qualified. He had bandaged you up and knew more about taking care of the seriously wounded than me," he explained, even though he knew that that wasn't the real reason. But he would stick by it until the end. No matter how much he wanted to tell him, he had a feeling the brunette wouldn't take his declaration well.

Ken nodded, his mind already seeming to be preoccupied. He switched from foot to foot as if nervous. "Aya, there's something that I should have told you."

His eyebrows scrunched together. Ken was being very submissive, and he seemed worried about something. "What is it, Ken?"

The brunette opened his mouth. "You kno-"

"Hey, Kenken! Are you gonna want me to make any soup for you?" Yohji's voice interrupted him. The blonde was standing at the front of the hallway, grinning up at the two of them.

Aya almost cursed when Ken turned towards him, not continuing what he was going to say. "Uh, no, thanks, Yotan. I almost had a heart attack and food poisoning from your last soup. I think I'd rather face starvation."

Yohji pouted and shook his head. "I did no such thing, and that's harsh, Kenken. I just wanted to make sure you get better quickly and that solid food that Omiitchi gave you isn't good for you. I think he was too intent on talking to his little online buddy than what is good for you."

Ken laughed. "Don't worry about it, Yotan. I didn't eat it anyways. Just go do whatever it was you're supposed to be doing."

The blonde nodded absently, turning and walking away. They both heard the footsteps as he descended the steps. Aya turned back to Ken, and raised an eyebrow. "That was odd. Now, you were saying."

All the humor immediately left the brunette's face, making Aya briefly regret that he had said anything. But only briefly. He wanted to know what the younger man was going to say. It may help with the investigation.

"Well, I was going to tell you. I've been meaning to tell you since I woke up today. See, the thing is, there w-"

"Ken-kun! I am so sorry for interrupting, but you didn't eat that sandwich did you?" Omi asked, coming into the hallway, a concerned expression on his face when he saw Aya standing there as well. "Yohji-kun just told me about giving you solid foods. I am so sorry. I completely forgot about that! Please tell me you didn't eat it," he begged.

Ken stopped again and smiled kindly at the youngest assassin. "No Omi. I didn't eat it. It's still on the tray in my room. Don't worry about it."

Aya looked at them both. Then he noticed something. Ken was clenching one hand behind his back. Obviously, the interruptions were getting to him. He probably really wanted to get out whatever it was that he wanted to say, but didn't want to say anything around the others. Which made him even more curious as to what it was.

"Oh thank God." Omi didn't seem to sense the tension in the air. Instead, he put his hands on his hips. "Speaking of your room, why aren't you in it, Ken-kun? I thought we had an agreement."

Ken grinned despite his rising agitation. "But I stayed by it, Omi. See? I told Aya where I was."

The younger blonde sighed and shook his head. "You are incorrigible, Ken-kun. Well, I'll be downstairs since I know someone reliable is making sure that you don't hurt yourself trying to walk."

With that, he left. The tension seemed to thicken despite the fact that he was gone. Ken turned back to Aya slowly, taking another deep breath, as if that would bolster his courage. Aya was getting impatient to hear what he was going to say. It was almost painful just for the wait.

"Ok, now that that's over, I can finish what I was saying. I was going to tell you this, and I've been meaning to. I've been thinking, and I think it's best if I tell you instead of letting it get out and you getting surprised and possibly angry later on. I mean, I'm sure that you'll be surprised anyways, but at least this way you'll hear it from me and not from some person who finds out," he rambled on. "Aya, I wanted to tell yo-"

"Kenken!" Yohji interrupted once more. He appeared in the hallway once more.

Ken was shaking. Aya's left eye twitched. Badly. This was just plain frustrating. And obviously Ken thought so, too. His fists were both clenched now, and his knuckles were white.

"What, Yotan?" he asked through clenched teeth.

The blonde seemed to ignore the anger emanating from Ken. Even Aya resisted the urge to take a step back. "Well, I was thinking. Do you think I should make something for Omiitchi? I mean, he hasn't really eaten really well since he's been taking care of you, so I figured that he would need something. What do you think I should give him?"

Ken didn't answer for a few seconds. Then, he said, "I. Don't. Care. Yohji. Just make him something. I'm sure he'll eat it out of courtesy whether its poison or not."

Yohji looked only mildly insulted, but he took it in stride and walked out, muttering about Ken being rude and just like Aya and something about a stick and pulling it out of somewhere. He turned a corner and disappeared. Both turned back to each other and Ken gave him a strained smile.

He opened his mouth to speak again, but it wasn't meant to be.

"Oh, and Kenken?"

Both of Aya's eyes twitched and he developed a tic in his jaw. Ken had a more violent reaction.

"CAN'T YOU TELL THAT I'M TRYING TO TELL AYA SOMETHING? WHAT COULD POSSIBLY BE MORE IMPORTANT THAN ME TELLING HIM THAT I LOVE HIM?"


	10. Chapter 10

**_The Undeserving Love_**

**_Chapter 10_**

**_By Kaden Cegali_**

**A/N: I am sorry. So** **sorry! Forgive me! I missed my promise and I'm sorry for it! I haven't had a lot of time to really work on my fics, but I'm trying. Please bear with me. Anyways, here's chapter 10. thanks to all those who reviewed for the last chapter, and there were a lot. 10, in fact and they were all great! Thanks.**

**Warnings: Ok, since they've never actually been in this kind of situation, I will say that _all _the characters are OOC. If you don't think so, then well, I did good. but be prepared anyways. Hope you enjoy. Please Read and Review!**

**Disclaimer: Hasn't changed. I still don't own any of Weiss or any of the guys. Just my storyline. Enjoy.

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Silence followed his outburst and he clamped as hand over his mouth, his eyes growing wide, while Yohji and Aya just stared at him.

"Shit." Aya heard the muffled curse from behind Ken's hand.

Ken backed away, his eyes darting back and forth between the two assassins. His pain and weakness was completely forgotten in the moment. He had no clue what to say, and he actually wanted to just run from this place. Better yet, awake from this nightmare, because that was the only thing this could be. There was no way that his luck was that horrible. Not only had he gotten the crap beaten out of him, he had just blurted out the one thing that would ruin anything that might have happened between him and Aya.

He was completely dumbstruck. To make sure that it wasn't a dream, he pinched his wrist. Hard. The stab of pain in that pinch confirmed his fears.

_Now what do I do? Maybe I can escape now and run for my life before he shakes off his shock. Then, I can hide for the rest of my life. Yeah, that'll work. If I need to, I can always find that chick in Australia._

'_Don't kid yourself, you idiot,' _A voice said, interrupting his thoughts. _'You know very well that that is the last thing that you should do.'_

_Shut up, conscious. You have no say in this. It's because of you that I'm in this situation. You're the one who kept pointing out those wonderful traits of his and made me notice it. And damn you for it._

'_Don't blame me for that! I don't control hormones. Blame the other part of your brain for that.'_

_Fine, I will. Just leave me alone now. I'm trying to think of a way to get out of this here._

Silence reigned in his head, making him only a slight degree more panicked, if that was possible. At least with the voice arguing with him, he could sort of forget the pair of violet eyes still wide in surprise and staring straight at him. But, he wasn't sure he wanted that voice back that desperately.

He took a deep breath. Whether he was going to run or scream, or try to play it off, he didn't even know, but he was going to be ready for anything. He saw the surprise clearing from Aya's eyes and swallowed in dread. Before the redhead could say anything and Ken could run for his life, Yohji again interrupted, but for once, it was fully welcome.

The blonde walked forward and grabbed Aya by his shoulders. "I think we need to give Kenken some time, don't you think, Aya? Let's go." Ignoring Aya's protests, he managed to drag the redhead out of the hallway and into his room, leaving Ken to stand there, his hand still over his mouth.

When the door closed, Ken collapsed to the floor as the full impact of what he had just did really hit him. He had confessed to Aya. It hadn't gone anything near like he had pictured it. Then again, he had had too much time to think about it, and most of his scenarios were probably more fiction than anything else. More likely to happen in a child's imagination than real life. Yet, strangely, now that he had gotten it out, he was oddly relieved and a weight seemed to lift. He now held almost absolutely no secrets from Aya now. And Yohji, too, it seemed.

He made himself stand, albeit a little shakily. He would have to deal with this eventually. Better to hear Aya's rejection of him now rather then let his doubt and fear fester inside of him so that his imagination could take root and give him nightmares and scary scenarios where Aya would come bursting into his room, katana raised and ready to cut him into little tiny pieces that he would put in a blender and chop up even more to give to some random dog on the streets. Then he'd-

_Stop it! You're already starting. Do yourself and me a favor and don't think._ He said to himself silently, shaking his head to clear the eerily vivid pictures of his death.

Forcing himself to be calm, he headed to Aya's room, where the two had disappeared.

* * *

Meanwhile, Aya was sitting on the bed in a daze, Yohji on a chair nearby. But he barely even noticed the blonde. He was too caught up in his own thoughts. More specifically, the confession of a certain brunette. He had never thought to hear such words from him.

_He loves me._ He thought dumbly, still unable to comprehend it.

'_And why the hell didn't you tell him that you loved him back?'_ A voice pointed out, but he ignored it.

"So why didn't you say anything to him? I know you feel the same way, Aya," Yohji said, repeating the words that the voice had said.

"You know, you really need to stop doing that. It's creepy," Aya said, his voice tired.

Yohji started, looking up. "Doing what?"

"Saying what the damn voice in my head just said."

"Smart voice. You should probably listen to it," the blonde said, smiling a little.

Aya raised an eyebrow at him. "And did what? Jumped Ken the second that it realized that I loved him back? Or hunted down the ones who did this even though I didn't know who the hell it was and I knew that it was stupid and suicidal? Because that is exactly what it told me to do."

Yohji didn't comment on it. "So why didn't you tell him? You've obviously known for some time now. Why didn't you tell him first?"

Aya turned away. "You know why, Kudoh."

The older man shook his head. "No, Aya, I don't. Why don't you tell me. Cause the only thing I can think of is that you were being a coward and I know that that can't possibly be true, because Fujimiya Ran is not a coward."

A harsh bark of laughter erupted from Aya's throat. "Then you don't know me that well. I'm not a coward when it comes to my life and what I need to do to preserve those that deserve it, but emotions? Omi's got a better chance of getting into an exclusive club with the best security and no kids policy than me facing up to any strong emotion."

"You just did," he pointed out softly, causing the redhead to blink in surprise as he realized the truth. "You already know he loves you. What could it hurt if you told him. At the very least, he'll know and it won't mess with his head."

Aya knew he was right, but he didn't want to admit it. Not to him, at least. Yohji didn't need an ego boost. Ever. He opened his mouth to say something, but a knock on his door stopped him. Instinctively, he grabbed his katana. Even though it wasn't the same kind of danger, it still comforted him, no matter how cold the blade was. Yohji shook his head at his action and stood, walking towards the door. He opened it, but Aya couldn't see who it was, but he had a feeling he knew who it was. There was only one person who would dare interrupt him like this. Would dare come near his room besides Yohji. And damn him for it.

Yohji didn't say anything, just walked past Ken, but not before he put a comforting hand on the brunette's shoulder and smiled warmly. He left, with Aya still in his room and Ken standing in the doorway.

Ken looked inside, not really sure what he was supposed to say. He hadn't really thought that far ahead. It wasn't his thing. He was the one who charged into situations, but that was exactly what got him into this. He seriously considered changing his way of doing things. It obviously wasn't helping him and definitely not good for his health.

"A-Aya?" he whispered, not really trusting his voice at the moment. He walked in further and his eyes immediately found the redhead. But what caught his immediate attention was not the look on the redhead's face, but the sword that he held calmly in his hands and lap. Images of his earlier thoughts came back, bringing with them the same terror and dread. He swallowed hard and forced himself to walk in further until he was just out of reach of Aya's blade. He smiled weakly.

Aya still had said nothing. And that made Ken worry. He wasn't sure why it did, but it did. He somehow expected a more emotional and violent reaction to his outburst. Though, he could live without the violent part.

Aya looked at Ken, thoughts whirling around in his mind. Should he tell him? Or should he just sun Ken's feelings so that no one got hurt? If he admitted to his feelings, there was the chance that their enemies would use it against him. That was something that he couldn't risk. But he also couldn't bring himself to tell such a blatant and stupid lie to Ken.

He sighed. He would have to deal with this now. "Ken. Wh-"

Ken interrupted him, raising a hand. "Look, Aya. If you don't feel that way, I understand, really. I shouldn't have even said that. But it just burst out and I know you weren't really expecting it, so, if you want, just erase that whole conversation from your mind ok? I'll just, stay out of your way until you completely forget about it, ok?" He turned and walked back to the door. "I'll, uh, just leave now. Sorry for dumping this on you, Aya."

Aya stared at the place where Ken had just been in shocked silence. He really hadn't noticed his feelings? How had he interpreted his anger, his brusque manner? His small acts of kindness? If Yohji had figured it out, why the hell didn't Ken?

'_Because, you stupid moron. He doesn't expect that of you. Yohji did. Ken thinks you're the poster boy of being straight and narrow.'_ That same voice spoke up.

Aya cursed softly under his breath. That was it. He stood quickly, letting his katana fall to the floor as he did so. He stormed out of his room, only to stop short as he almost bumped into Yohji. The blonde's eyes were narrow, and gone was the happy-go-lucky smirk that had once seemed to be a permanent part of him.

"You bastard-"

"Shut it, Kudoh, or I won't be able to tell him. Now get out of my way or I'll make you," Aya said coldly, his own eyes clashing with Yohji's, whose eyes widened before he stepped to the side.

"Don't mess this up, Ran," he said, using his real name.

The redhead didn't respond, but made his way to Ken's room. When he approached the door, he raised his hand and knocked softly. He heard shuffling from behind the door seconds before it was opened to reveal Ken. The brunette's eyes widened before he promptly slammed the door shut on him. Confsued, Aya just stood there for a second before shaking it off and knocking again.

Ken's muffled voice carried to his side of the door. "I'm not letting you in so you can kill me, Aya. I like my life, even if my recent suicidal tendencies seem to speak otherwise."

Aya opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. What could he possibly say to that? He shook his head, reminding himself of the reason.

"Ken, open the damn door, I'm not here to kill you. My katana is back in my room."

"And? You aren't that weak. You could strangle me in my weakened state," was his reply.

Aya took a deep breath to calm his rising anger. Him yelling at Ken probably wasn't the best way to get the brunette to open the door. No matter how tempting it was. "Ken, open the door. I give you my word that I'm not here to kill you."

"Uh uh. No way, Aya. I saw that look in your eyes. It's murder."

Aya growled deep in his throat before he backed up and raised his foot. It connected solidly with the door, breaking off the hinges and causing the door to fly open. He heard a gasp of surprise followed by a few choice words, but he ignored that. He walked in, finding Ken as the brunette backed away, eyes darting from side to side, looking for an exit. He marched straight up to him and hauled him to his feet. He kept his hands firmly on Ken's upper arms, but tried not to squeeze too tightly. Ken's eyes were wide with fear.

"A-A-Aya," he sputtered. "D-d-don't d-do anyt-t-thing that y-you might regret n-" he began.

Aya silenced him with a kiss. Ken stiffened momentarily before relaxing into it. He released his hold on his arms, and Ken didn't do anything for a few beats. Then, his arms snaked around his neck and he returned the kiss.

Aya pulled back, breathless, after a few moments of that. He gave Ken a small smile. "Does that answer any of the questions in your head? I'm not angry, Ken. I'm shocked. Besides, how else would I have been able to deal with you for that week if I didn't love you, too?"

Ken's eyes went wide before a huge grin split his face in half and he hugged Aya as hard as he could. "I'm glad, Aya. I really am. Now I can stop picturing you chopping me up and feeding me to homeless people and stray dogs."

Aya raised an eyebrow that Ken didn't see, but he chose not to comment on his statement. He would just take it that he was happy and leave it at that.


	11. Chapter 11

**The Undeserving Love**

**Chapter 11**

**By Kaden Cegali**

**A/N: YAY! I finally updated. -Bows as low as possible, head down- I am _so_ sorry that it's taken me so long to post. To be honest, I hadn't actually thought about this story for a while now. But, thanks to Gillie, I've decided to try a little harder to finish this story. Thank you much for that. The only thing is that it may take me a while. I already have the ending mapped out. I just have to get there, which is harder than it might seem since my professors seem to want all possible free time I have. Really sucks, but I will try my best to update regularly from now on (regularly being less than a month or two.) Hopefully I can finish this story by the end of this year. Thanks to all my readers who have stayed with me even if I haven't been the best person, and welcome to those who are new to this story. As always, please R&R. It's much appreciated. Enjoy.  
**

**Warnings: There is a bit of OOC in here, so don't expect them to be perfectly in character. This isn't really a situation that they've ever been in...ever.  
**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the Weiss guys or anything in relation to them. I only own my storyline. If you want to contest that, bring it on.**

* * *

"So, what have you found out, Omi?"

Omi shook his head. "I haven't been able to find anything since that last message, Aya-kun. How is Ken-kun doing?"

Aya suppressed the smile that wanted to come to his lips. "Hidaka's fine. Just resting, mostly."

It had been two days since the two of them had confessed their love for each other. Immediately after they had confessed, Yohji and Omi had come running, wanting to know what the loud crash had been. To find the two other assassins in an embrace had been quite the shock for the small blonde. Needless to say, they'd had to explain everything to him while Yohji just watched with that smug smile of his. Ken had later told the redhead that he had been feeling uneasy about this huge boost to the older man's ego and what it would mean for them later on. Omi had taken it all in stride, though Aya was surprised that the younger assassin hadn't noticed it, as Yohji had.

As for Ken and Aya's relationship, after the initial shock and happiness had settled, it had been put on hold. This problem with Kritiker was getting out of hand. Still, they hadn't heard a word from their sources and that was as bad a sign as any.

"Um, Aya-kun?" Omi's voice cut into his thoughts and forced his attention back to the matter at hand.

"What is it, Omi?"

"What happens when Kritiker finally does contact us? What will we do?"

Aya was silent for a moment. He had been thinking the exact same thing ever since they had found that first message and he began to suspect that Kritiker was trying to get rid of them. "For the time being, until we can get some more information, we will act as if we know nothing. We'll go on our missions as they're given to us, but we will have to be extra cautious. We can't give them a chance to repeat Ken's experience."

Omi nodded. That sounded like the best course of action. Which meant that their redheaded leader was back to normal. A good thing, too, because he didn't think Ken could go through much more of this abuse and come out alive.

"What's with the long faces? You look like someone's died recently, and I do believe that Kenken is laying in his bed complaining that a certain redhead isn't there to keep him company," Yohji remarked from behind, slightly taking them both for surprise.

Ken appeared right behind him and shoved him lightly. "Oh, shut it, Yotan. Just because you are without a date tonight doesn't mean that you have to take it out on us. Go find a better way to entertain yourself. I'm sure your hand feels neglected after all this time."

Yohji smirked at the brunette and Aya could see the words as he was thinking them. _So you really want to try your hand at me? Bring it on._ "I think you might be thinking of that left hand of yours, because your right hand has been working furiously for the past two days, Kenken. But I'll forgive you for mixing them up."

Omi's face turned the shade of a ripe apple, Aya's the color of his hair, and Ken sputtered, only faintly turning pink. Yohji's smirk widened as he realized that he had won this round as well. "But enough of Kenken's habits. How about we focus on the real problem here?"

All of the embarrassment and humor evaporated immediately. Omi was the first to break the silence. "I think we need to deal with this as Aya-kun has suggested, which is basically not to deal with it at all until we have more information. And until Kritiker finally contacts us again, we have no way of getting said information. For the time being, we should just do as we're told, and lay low until the time is right."

Ken rubbed the back of his head. He wanted to tell the others about the entirety of his mission, namely, a certain redheaded telepath but knew that that would be a bad idea. He figured that Schuldig was listening in every time he thought about telling them, and he was sure that, if he was, there was some kind of trap that would be triggered if he even mentioned him. And while he didn't mind for his own safety, the one thing he wouldn't do was put one of his teammates in danger.

_Damn you, Schuldig. You've got my hands tied and your enjoying it,_ he thought with a sneer.

"Is something the matter, Ken-kun?" Omi's worried voice cut through his thoughts faster than any slap to the face could have.

He immediately wiped his face clean before any but the younger blonde could see his expression. Then, he said, "No, Omi. Just a bit sore, that's all." He knew he was a bad liar from the skeptical expression on his young teammate's face. But, Omi was Omi no matter what, and Ken knew that the blonde wouldn't ask any questions.

The awkward silence was finally filled with a loud yawn from Yohji. The playboy stretched his arms out and pushed Ken aside. "Well, as much as I just love these little chats we have with our minds, I need sleep. I haven't gotten much since this incident started, so I plan to get some well-deserved rest."

"Yohji-kun, don't take this so lightly. This is a-"

"Chibi, I know what I'm doing, and I know the situation we're in. Calm down and go play with your little online friend. You all just need to relax. Jeez, you're beginning to all resemble that stick up Aya's ass." With that, he disappeared. A few seconds later, a door was slammed.

Omi, beet red once more, looked at Aya. Ken did the same, thanking every god he could think of that he wasn't the one on the receiving end of the death glare that the redheaded assassin was directing towards the door. True, Aya had said that he loved him, but that didn't mean that the brunette didn't still imagine his lifeless pieces scattered across the world whenever the redhead got that look in his eyes. He didn't think even love could save him if Aya ever went on a rampage.

"Aya-kun, I'm sure Yohji-kun didn't-"

Ken interrupted the young blonde before he could make things worse. With the most cheerful voice he could muster despite his terror, he said, "Omi, how is that online buddy of yours? Have you beaten them yet?"

Omi immediately picked up on it, making Ken sigh inwardly at the young blonde's perceptiveness. "Not yet, Ken-kun. He's a tough chess player. It's like he can tell where I'm going to move next and plan way ahead. It's a little frustrating, but one day I'll beat him. No one's perfect at it. He'll mess up one day."

Ken nodded in understanding, though for the life of him, he couldn't get why anyone would want to play, much less master, a game that you had to sit down and concentrate for ten minutes before moving. He, himself, was more of an outdoor sports kind of guy, and couldn't even sit around for more than a few minutes without having to get up. The others knew this all too well; thus the arguments from when he first got hurt. It was why he played soccer. It relaxed him in a way no board game ever could.

The brunette walked over to Omi and patted him on the shoulder. "I'm sure you'll get him one of these days."

The blonde nodded and smiled up at him, but it slowly disappeared to be replaced by a more somber expression. "Ken-kun, you should really get some rest. You aren't entirely healed and you need to be in case Kritiker comes after us." _And we don't need you to be a burden while we fight. _He didn't say it out loud, but Ken heard it all the same and cursed his fate. Why was _he_ the one to have gotten hurt so many times? But he knew just as well that he was glad it was him and not any of the others.

Aya's hand on his shoulder brought him back to reality. He looked down at the hand, then at the redhead. Aya's face was as stoic as ever, making Ken think of a statue, but he knew the assassin was _trying _to help him out.

He smiled at Omi. "I'll be sure to try, Omi. Can't guarantee much, seeing as how rest means doing nothing."

Omi grinned at him, the mood lifting slightly from the dark corner it was in. "Yeah, Ken-kun, and we all know too well how much you hate sitting around doing nothing.

Ken laughed at the truth in those words and turned to go. "Well, like I said, I'll try. You just find out all you can ASAP. I'll take care of the healing process."

As soon as he was up the stairs, that awkward feeling he had had in his gut disappeared. He didn't know what it was, but he kept doubting his ability to help the others if they were attacked again. He knew he was ready for a fight, but it was like Kritiker was trying to wear him down with all the injuries they were forcing on him.

_:Oh Siberian, it gives me such pleasure to feel you in such pain and self-loathing. I thrive on this.:_

Ken sighed at Schuldig's voice in his head…again. _Mastermind. What the hell do you want now? Haven't you gotten your thrills yet? Besides, you were wrong about Aya._

_:So you say.: _The telepath returned quickly.

_No. Says Aya when he said he loved me. _Ken retorted.

Schuldig was silent for so long that Ken thought that he might have actually won an argument with him. _:Oh, don't bother even thinking that. I was just laughing at your naiveté. It's very persistent. Which makes it all the more funny.:_

Ken growled and didn't answer. He wasn't going to encourage the Schwarz member to continue.

_:Aw, but why not? I want to feel more of your indecision. It tastes like heaven to one who has never felt such before.:_

_I hate you, you bastard. Now get the hell out of my head before I tell everyone what happened at my mission._

He could feel the smile from the redheaded telepath. _:You say that like there's been a reason besides your cowardice that has stopped you from doing so.:_

Ken couldn't help the snarl that formed on his face. _Are you telling me you don't have a trap set in case I do tell them?_

He felt a mental shrug from his enemy. _:I'm not saying that I do, but I'm not saying that I don't, either. Oh, and you might want to take that scowl off your face. It's very unbecoming.:_ With that, he felt Schuldig's presence disappear from his mind.

The brunette's scowl only deepened at that vague answer, but he told himself that he couldn't expect much else from the one they called Mastermind. It wasn't like he always told exactly what he was thinking and planning.

_Although that would be helpful._

'_Yeah, and then we wouldn't have to actually do anything because then he'd blab to everyone.' _His inner voice retorted.

_No, the only ones he'd tell would be us. He wouldn't be _that_ stupid._

'_Yes, because it's _so_ smart to tell the only ones that actually _can_ stop you exactly what you're planning so that they can, unsurprisingly, stop you from doing so.' _The voice threw back with such sarcasm that Ken was a little surprised. He hadn't actually thought that his inner voice could bite back so hard.

_I said it would be helpful, not the most intelligent thing he could do._

The voice was silent, but for some reason, he didn't think that that voice was his voice of reason. He figured reason should, oh, you know, _reason_ with you, not make you feel more like an idiot than you already did.

The brunette assassin finally reached his room. There was nothing to do now. While most of his body was healed, he was still stiff and a little sore, but that was nothing a little soccer couldn't handle. But he had told Omi that he would try to relax and let his body heal on its own, so he opened the door and navigated his way through the mess, which seemed to have gotten worse since the last time he had been in here, to his bed.

"I still don't know how you manage this, Hidaka. It should be humanly impossible to not only create but also willingly _live_ in this mess." Aya's voice shocked the brunette. He hadn't even heard him come near him.

It struck him then if Aya had actually seen him the entire time. He turned around and gave him an embarrassed smile even as he scratched the back of his head. "Heh, well, you know, Aya, that I am not a normal human." If Aya hadn't seen him in the hallway, he certainly was not going to ask and then have to explain. He was sure his friends already thought him a strange person. He didn't want to make it any worse by telling them what he was thinking.

Aya grunted, but Ken could see the smile in his eyes that wanted to reach his lips. "Still, I'm not letting you stay in my room when you cease to be able to navigate this disaster."

Ken ignored the insult and grinned at the redhead. "The day I can't navigate this place is the day when the world ends. Besides, I can find anything in here that you could possibly ask me, as long as I knew it was here in the first place. Come on," He made a sweeping gesture. "ask me to find anything and I bet you I can find it."

The redheaded assassin raised an eyebrow at this. "And what do I get if you can't?"

"There won't be a need for that. I already know I'll win, but if I somehow manage to lose, you can have whatever you want. You have my word on it." Ken couldn't help the smug tone that entered his voice.

This time the smile did reach Aya's mouth. "Fine. The only rule is that it has to be in here and you have to know that it's here, right?" At Ken's nod, he was silent as he thought about it, looking around the room. Finally, he said, "Ok, how about the shoes that Omi bought for you that you only wore once because you said that they were too nice to wear anywhere."

"Pch, that's easy." The brunette walked over to a small pile of papers and what Aya could only assume was office supplies, though where the other assassin had gotten them, he couldn't know. After about a half a minute of digging through the pile, Ken lifted a victorious hand which held the pair of shoes that Aya had described. Ken looked at them curiously while the redhead looked on in shock. "Here they are, though I can't believe you actually remembered these. I had almost forgotten about them," he mused.

Aya couldn't believe that he had actually found them. Finally, he wiped the stupefied expression from his face. "How…wha…"

"Cat got your tongue?" The brunette grinned at him, snapping the redhead out of it. "Ready to admit defeat?"

"You said that was an easy one." Ken almost laughed at the petulant tone in his voice, but managed to quell the urge. But the expression on his lover's face was so unlike the usually stoic assassin that it was very difficult to do so.

"Fine, want best out of five?"

"You're on."

* * *

Yohji approached Ken's door an hour later, having been sent over by Omi. The blonde was now well-rested and ready for anything. Omi had told him that the two other assassins had been in Ken's room ever since they had left the basement. Yohji grinned lecherously. Only one thing could be going on in that room to keep them there that long and he was looking forward to busting them in the act.

He snickered, tempted to just knock and listen to the two of them struggle to get themselves back under control, but he finally decided to just surprise them even more by bursting through the door and catching them by surprise.

_I thoroughly plan to hold this over Kenken's head for years to come. This is going to be fun,_ the grinning Yohji thought as his hand reached for the door knob and he leaned his ear against the door. His smile widened when he heard shuffling, and then Ken's voice.

"Aya, you've gotta try harder than that. I know it's hard, but it can't be _that _hard."

Aya's voice came back, sounding a little annoyed, but also in disbelief. "I don't know how you do it. It shouldn't be possible for you to make this seem so easy."

Yohji raised an eyebrow at this. They didn't sound like they were in the middle of a compromising situation, but then again, these two were so unusual that he wouldn't doubt if they were in the middle of the act itself.

Aya's voice startled him and almost sent him into a panic. "I give up. There's no way that this is possible. You've got to be cheating. I'm leaving."

Yohji jumped back and almost ran halfway to the stairs before turning around just as the door was opened and the redheaded assassin walked through.

"Oh, come on, Aya! I wasn't cheating. I really did know where everything was. Besides, how could I know what you were going to ask for?" Ken followed soon after him. Both of them looked fine; their clothes weren't rumpled, hair wasn't messed up. They looked like they had just been sitting around talking.

"Kenken, what are you two talking about?" The blonde couldn't help asking. He had to know what they were doing when they should have been getting it on.

Aya glared at Yohji, making the blonde assassin move back a step at the unexpectedness of it. Then he pointed to Ken, who, despite what he had said, was grinning from ear to ear, a smug look on his face. "He's a cheater, or not human. One or the other." That said, he started walking to his room in a huff.

Ken grabbed Aya's arm on his way past him and held on tightly despite the redhead's obvious attempts to dislodge himself. "Aya, that's just mean. Come on, I'll give you another chance."

Yohji watched this in fascination. He had never seen either one of his friends act this way. Aya, while still a little grumpy, was actually showing quite a bit of emotion and Ken was acting more like a kid than usual. It was so out of the ordinary that he was actually struck speechless. Not that the two in front of him even noticed. He doubted that they even remembered that he was there.

"I refuse to play this game of yours any longer. There's no point in it."

"You're just mad 'cause I was right and proved you wrong."

"…" The redhead didn't say a word to that, but Yohij could see his eye twitch.

Ken pursed his lips. "You can't really be thinking I'm some kind of alien, can you? 'Cause I can guarantee that I don't eat brains or anything weird like that. And, while I sometimes want to, I don't plan to kill off the entire human race. Really."

The two of them stared at the brunette in bafflement. Aya's mouth was open and moving, but no words were coming out. The blonde assassin couldn't tell if their stoic leader was trying to figure out how to respond to such a comment, or if he was just trying to decide how to take his lover's words. Ken must have realized what he'd just said and clapped a hand over his mouth.

Yohji took this time to finally intervene again. "As fun as this conversation is, and as much as I would just love to, well, never mind, I don't want to even think of hearing any more of it. What I want to know is just what the hell is going on here?"

Ken finally seemed to notice that there was someone else in the hall with them and grinned at his friend. "Aya bet me that I couldn't find things in my room."

The blonde stared at him in disbelief. "You mean you two weren't taking this opportune time alone to, oh I don't know, screw like bunnies?"

"Yotan!" Ken exclaimed, turning a nice shade of red.

"Well, come on, Kenken. You two were alone, no one was around, and you were seeing if you could _find random crap in your room_? Are you two even pretending to be normal?!"

"Just because we don't have sex on our brains all the time like you, Kudou, doesn't make us abnormal," Aya shot back.

Yohji ran his hand through his hair in frustration. And he had been looking forward to bursting in their room why? He groaned inwardly. Never again. "Ugh, I won't even try anymore. Just…Chibi wants all of us in the basement. Now."

Ken's brow furrowed at that. "Wasn't Omi just playing chess with that online buddy of his? What does he need us for? To cheer him on?"

The blonde sobered a little at this point. That worried Ken more than what he said next, though his words alone made chills run down his spine. It wasn't like they hadn't been expecting it, it was just a surprise that it had happened earlier than he was hoping.

"Kritiker has contacted us."


End file.
